Palo Alto Weekly 04.22.2011 - Section 1

Section 1 of the April 22, 2011 edition of the Palo Alto Weekly

6°Ê888]Ê ÕLiÀÊÓÊUÊ«ÀÊÓÓ]ÊÓä££ N xäZ
Caltrain’s schedule
maintained
— for now
Page 3
PaloAltoOnline.com
It’s the small stuff
that keeps our kids
emotionally
on track
page 14
Spectrum 12
Camp Connection 20
Movies 25
Eating Out 27
N Arts
Classifieds 48
Puzzles 49
Wearable art, from chain mail to recycled
N Sports Banner day for Stanford gymnasts
N Home Stanford showcases homes, gardens
Page 22
Page 29
Page 33
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Call today... 650-494-0760
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When you shop locally, good things happen to make our community stronger:
t Sales tax dollars, which fund schools and local
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t You help to sustain the unique and diverse
businesses that make our shopping areas
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t You show how much you value the expertise
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offer their customers.
t You reduce your carbon footprint by not
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t And when you shop at locally owned
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For more information call 650.223.6509
Page 2ÊUÊ«ÀÊÓÓ]ÊÓä££ÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞ
Upfront
Local news, information and analysis
Caltrain to keep all trains running — for now
Agency to retain the current service level in 2012
but warns of deep budget troubles ahead
by Gennady Sheyner
C
altrain will keep all of its 86
weekday trains running in the
next fiscal year, though riders
will have to shell out a little extra
for tickets and parking, the agency’s
board of directors decided Thursday morning.
The Peninsula Corridor Joint
Powers Board, which oversees the
cash-strapped transit agency, voted
5-3 Thursday morning to adopt a
budget plan that depends largely on
one-time revenues to balance the
books in fiscal year 2012. The ap-
proved plan also assumes the agency
will close its projected $3.5 million
budget deficit through a contribution
from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), a regional
planning agency.
Though the final details of the
deal are still being negotiated, the
money would likely be transferred
from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s allocation for
Caltrain’s capital budget to its annual operating budget, Caltrain
staff said Thursday. Caltrain CEO
Michael Scanlon called the deal a
“one-year patch” and said the money could come from a vehicle-replacement budget, which is already
underfunded.
“It’s a complicated deal,” Scanlon
told the board. “It’s close to done.
There’s been good, positive spirit
that has characterized the talks between the partners and the MTC.”
Under the plan, train fares would
go up by 25 cents, while the daily
parking costs would rise from $3 to
$4 starting July 1. The cost of the
monthly parking pass would go up
from $30 to $40.
Members of the public and the
board majority hailed the plan as a
victory, however temporary, to the
agency’s ongoing budget crisis. Caltrain staff had previously proposed
reducing service to 76, or possibly
even 48, trains, suspending weekend
(continued on page 7)
LAND DEVELOPMENT
City, Stanford
reach financial
agreement
Palo Alto and hospital concur
on largest construction
project in city’s history
Nick Gonzales
Veronica Weber
Young supporters, including (from left) Blake Thompson, 3, Mina Lee-Hwong, 3, Astrid Fransson, 3, and Virginia Such, 4, took advantage of
President Barack Obama’s visit to Facebook Wednesday by selling lemonade — a fundraiser for Japanese tsunami and earthquake victims.
Obama shared the spotlight with Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO.
POLITICS
President Obama touts
technology, participation
In Palo Alto, Facebook employees
‘Like’ Obama’s message
by Sue Dremann
I
n his first live-streaming Q&A
with the American people
Wednesday, President Barack
Obama asserted that new technologies could help solve some of
the nation’s most pressing problems — a theme that members
of the young crowd at Facebook
headquarters in Palo Alto said
resonated with them.
The hour-long question-andanswer session, moderated by
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and broadcast via Facebook.
com, touched upon areas in which
Obama has focused his energies
— improving education, reforming health care and developing
alternative energy sources. All
require a focus on new technologies, he said.
Technology can reduce health
care costs by millions of dollars,
numbers that Obama said he hoped
would be apparent in the next five
years. Technology can streamline
cumbersome paperwork and help
coordinate patient care, he said.
Providing incentives for a community hospital to get a system
online that would allow for information sharing and elimination of
duplicate tests needs to be a top
priority, he said. The VA health
system already has achieved huge
cost savings through its online
system, he said.
Facebook employees who attended the town hall emphasized
the event itself was a product of
new technology.
“It’s a very historical point in
American culture because in this
Internet age, we can have this discussion with the president in this
open forum on Facebook — live,”
Joey Primiani said after the town
hall meeting.
“Anybody can ask him questions on the spot; anybody can ask
any question and get an immediate
answer,” he said.
In the wide-ranging talk, Obama
fielded questions about the national debt, the economic recovery,
education, health care reform, immigration and renewable energy.
Repeatedly, he struck the note of
achieving progress through “a balanced approach.”
He didn’t hesitate to criticize the
Republican budget plan put forth
by U.S. Rep Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, which eschews tax increases
and would cut 70 percent of the
clean-energy budget, 25 percent
from education and 30 percent
from transportation, he said.
“I guess you could call that bold.
I would call that shortsighted. …
Nothing is easier than solving the
problem on the backs of people
who are poor or people who are
powerless or don’t have lobbyists
or don’t have clout,” he said.
Obama said the country has
made progress in its recovery from
the recession, but there is more
to do. In response to a question
about the challenges to first-time
homebuyers, he said the housing
market is still the biggest drag on
economic recovery.
“We are living through as tumultuous a time as I certainly
have seen in my lifetime,” Obama
said. “When I came into office,
the No. 1 job was preventing us
from getting into another Great
Depression.”
In one of his few comments during the event, Zuckerberg praised
Obama’s Race to the Top education-reform program as one of the
most important things the administration has done.
Obama said he wants education
reform to be part of his legacy. Reforms that advance mathematics
and science and encourage women
and minorities to get into technology fields are investments in the
country’s economic future; they
are where ideas and innovations
will come from, he said.
Before Obama arrived in Palo
Alto, about 100 low-income people and their supporters gathered
in front of Palo Alto City Hall to
tell personal stories of unemployment and minimum-wage jobs.
They called for deficit solutions
in Washington, D.C., that preserve
social programs such as child care,
food and housing assistance.
“Mr. President, I’d like you to
have compassion for the masses,”
said 58-year-old Eric Peterson, a
San Jose homeowner who recently
took a minimum-wage job after
(continued on page 7)
by Gennady Sheyner
alo Alto and the Stanford University Medical Center reached
a breakthrough Wednesday
on a financial agreement that could
pave the way for Stanford’s massive
expansion of its hospital facilities —
the largest construction project in
the city’s history.
After weeks of intense negotiations, city and Stanford officials
have tentatively agreed on a deal
that effectively resolves the thorniest component of the parties’ “development agreement” — a document
that would grant Stanford the right
to exceed local zoning regulations
in exchange for a set of “community
benefits.” The agreement is one of
two major documents, along with
the Final Environmental Impact
Report, that the city must approve
before Stanford can proceed with
the hospital project.
Though the two sides had reached
accord earlier this year on most
aspects of the document, they remained split over “cost neutrality.”
Palo Alto has consistently demanded
that Stanford include in the development agreement a guarantee that the
hospital expansion would not drive
up the city’s operating costs. Stanford had offered an upfront payment
of $1.7 million — an operating deficit that was projected by the city’s
economic consultant. The city considered this offer insufficient.
But on Wednesday, Stanford submitted a new offer that includes an
upfront payment along with a guarantee that the city will receive at
least $8.1 million in constructionuse-tax revenue by the year 2025.
Stanford will do that by requiring its
major contractors to obtain onsite-
P
(continued on page 6)
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;
+$),
It really was an accident waiting to
happen.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Grace Pariente, a volunteer with Track Watch,
an anti-suicide patrol, on last weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fatal train-car
collision. See story on page 3.
Around Town
LEADERSHIP GAP ... Palo Alto
proudly boasts a wealth of citizen
groups who care passionately
about preparing the city for the next
major disaster. But when it comes
to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s official emergencypreparedness efforts, things are far
less smooth. Earlier this month, the
cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Emergency Manager Richard
Mallonee was asked to step down
because his official position â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
â&#x20AC;&#x153;management specialistâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; only
allows him to work 1,000 hours per
year. According to a letter he sent
out to emergency volunteers, he
exceeded these hours, and the city
decided not to extend his hours. His
last day on the job was April 7. Mallonee wrote that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been told the
city intends to bring him back in the
new fiscal year, on July 1. The latest bureaucratic hiccup in the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
emergency-preparedness operation
has riled local volunteers, who earlier this month urged the city to hire
a permanent director of emergency
services â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a position that was also
recommended by an independent
report from consultant Arrietta
Chakis. Lenore Cymes, a disasterpreparedness volunteer, thanked
Mallonee for his expertise and leadership and expressed frustration
at the staff turnover in the Office of
Emergency Services. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now we are,
unfortunately, left rudderless once
again,â&#x20AC;? Cymes wrote in an e-mail
to Mallonee and the City Council.
Given the recent Japan earthquake,
she wrote, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision not
to extend Malloneeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hours is â&#x20AC;&#x153;so
penny wise and pound foolish, it defies explanation.â&#x20AC;?
ALL THE ADO ... Pundits and business-types perk up when President
Barack Obama comes to town to
talk about the national economy, but
regular Palo Altans have more practical concerns. To them, a visit from
the leader of the free world means
road closures and unexpected interruptions to their daily routines. So
it was that about 40 residents and
dozens of car commuters found
themselves stuck for about half an
hour near Junipero Serra Boulevard
on Monday afternoon, at the foot of
the Stanford Dish. Some wondered
why a police cruiser screeched to a
halt at Stanford Avenue shortly after
1 p.m., blocking westbound car access to Junipero Serra (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Something
big is going on over there,â&#x20AC;? one
trooper explained, pointing toward
Page Mill Road). Cars traveling up
and down Junipero Serra were
halted in their tracks and directed
to Stanford Avenue. Drivers clearly
werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t amused. The woman in
the first car to get stranded at the
Stanford-Junipero Serra intersection claimed she had to rush to the
hospital to see her mother. While
she exchanged words with a state
trooper, cars lined up behind hers. It
took the troopers about 15 minutes
to clear the traffic and create space
for Stanford Avenue cars to make
U-turns and head back toward El
Camino Real. Most commuters,
including children on a westbound
school bus, waited patiently while
troopers explained to them that
they had to clear the road for the
presidential motorcade. Things were
calmer but no less antsy near the
gated entrance to the Dish, where
about 20 runners, walkers and bicyclists patiently waited for permission to cross the street to Stanford
Avenue. A similar contingent lined
up on the other side. Dish visitor
John Stoneham and others made
the best of the situation and pulled
out their smartphones to mark the
occasion. Several bicyclists wearing blue spandex T-Shirts with the
VMWare logo briefly contemplated
rebelling and crossing the street.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;What would they do?â&#x20AC;? one asked.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Probably nothing. But they could
arrest you,â&#x20AC;? another replied. But
cooler heads prevailed and at about
1:45 p.m., a motorcade of vans,
limos and cruisers whizzed by,
flanked by several pairs of motorcycle cops. Minutes later, Junipero
was once again open for business,
Stanford Avenue was liberated
from congestion and Dish joggers
were allowed to return to their cars.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yeah! Wish Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d brought my camera,â&#x20AC;?
one of them said while crossing the
street.
QUIPS AND QUOTES ... â&#x20AC;&#x153;My name
is Barack Obama, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m the guy
who got Mark (Zuckerberg) to
wear a jacket and tie.â&#x20AC;? With that,
the president kicked off a town hall
meeting in which he and Facebook
CEO Zuckerberg exchanged quips
like old friends. Obama further
poked fun at Zuckerberg by saying
that the country needed the wealthy,
like both of them, to pay more taxes.
Zuckerberg shot back: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m cool
with that.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I know youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re OK with
that,â&#x20AC;? Obama replied genially. A
video of the town hall is posted at
www.facebook.com/facebooklive. N
VE
EOVLEO
W
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WE IDKSI
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Upfront
PUBLIC SAFETY
S
After fatal accident, changes
to rail crossings debated
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by Sue Dremann
T
seen many harrowing close calls.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It really was an accident waiting
to happen,â&#x20AC;? Grace Pariente said.
Susan Solomon agreed, saying
sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seen cars trapped about once
an hour.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The impatient drivers frequently
speed up when approaching the
tracks, apparently trying to both
cross the tracks and pass through
the intersection on the green light.
If the light turns red, that car may
be trapped behind another car in the
small area between Alma and the
tracks,â&#x20AC;? she said.
Moving the traffic lights at Caltrain
crossings from the east side of the
tracks to the west side to minimize
potential vehicle jams on the tracks is
possible, Rodriguez said this week.
However, he added that to do so
would entail a different kind of signal configuration, which includes a
pre-signal, he said.
Pre-signals are timed to allow
cars to get over the tracks and still
make the light to cross Alma Street
or turn right. However, it would
eliminate the ability to turn right on
red, he said.
In addition, a pre-signal would
require the installation of two more
crossing gates â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the â&#x20AC;&#x153;armsâ&#x20AC;? that
come down to block traffic from the
tracks, he said.
He cautioned that a pre-signal
doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily always stop
train-vehicle collisions. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is
no specific signal operation that will
guarantee to keep someone from being stuck,â&#x20AC;? he said.
PAW
HAIRCUTS REGULARLY $18.00
Signal-light changes â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;feasibleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but not planned, Palo Alto official says
o some longtime Palo Alto residents, last Fridayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (April 15)
fatal crash between Caltrain
and a car at the Charleston Road
crossing was an accident waiting to
happen.
This week, a city official said that a
measure that could improve the safety
of the intersection â&#x20AC;&#x153;definitely is feasibleâ&#x20AC;? but it is not currently planned.
Jaime Rodriguez, Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chief
transportation official, was responding to inquiries posed by several
residents after Indiana resident Judy
Goldblatt was killed in her rented
Nissan Altima, which had become
stuck on the tracks.
Witnesses said the vehicle appeared to be blocked in by heavy
rush-hour traffic as it traveled east.
Goldblatt and her husband, Dr.
Lawrence Goldblatt, dean emeritus
of the Indiana University School of
Dentistry, were in town visiting her
sister.
Volunteers with Track Watch, an
anti-suicide patrol, and others in
the community have suggested that
traffic lights at the Charleston, East
Meadow and Churchill crossings
should be added to the west side of
the tracks.
Currently, the lights are on the east
side, leaving a buffer zone for about
one car between Alma Street and
the train tracks. Eastbound drivers
often misjudge the space, thinking
it is long enough to fit two cars, or
they get caught on the tracks when
the light changes, residents said.
Track watchers said they have
WITH
THIS AD
FOR THESE VERY SPECIAL
UPCOMING EVENTS
The rail line is currently undergoing changes as part of a $5.8 million Caltrain safety-improvement
project. The current Santa Clara
Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Phase 1 grade-crossing
safety project includes four Palo
Alto sites: Charleston, East Meadow, Churchill and Alma Street at
Palo Alto Avenue. But the safety
features, which include pedestrian
gates and sidewalks, do not include
any significant safety enhancements
for vehicles, Rodriguez said.
The four-gate option and west-side
signals â&#x20AC;&#x153;are not an option in the near
future,â&#x20AC;? he said.
A $699,000 safety-enhancement
project (Phase III) calls for signal
modifications and replacing the
crossing arms at East Meadow and
Churchill, he said. Caltrain would
be in charge of the design and the
city would do the construction in
fiscal year 2012-13, he said. What
the signal modifications would be
is not yet clear, he said.
Caltrain has not yet responded to
whether it thinks such changes are
feasible.
Fridayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s accident is not the first
fatality involving a vehicle on Palo
Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tracks.
In 2007, Maria de Jesus Nieblas,
21, a Sunnyvale driver, was killed at
the Meadow train crossing when her
westbound car lurched in front of a
northbound train. N
Staff Writer Sue Dremann can
be emailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.
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TRANSPORTATION
City officials praise new high-speed rail plan
Lawmakersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; vision to link high-speed rail with improved Caltrain system earns kudos
by Gennady Sheyner
P
alo Alto City Council members are hailing a new plan
for high-speed rail along the
Peninsula as â&#x20AC;&#x153;constructiveâ&#x20AC;? and representative of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concerns.
The proposal â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which U.S. Rep.
Anna Eshoo (D-Palo Alto), state
Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto)
and state Assemblyman Rich Gordon (D-Menlo Park) announced
Monday morning jointly â&#x20AC;&#x201D; involves
linking the planned high-speed rail
line in San Jose with a modernized,
electrified Caltrain system and scaling back the rail authorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ongoing
environmental analysis, which calls
for two separate train systems on the
Peninsula.
Council members at a Tuesday
night meeting with Simitian applauded the lawmakersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; announcement.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kudos to the state Senator,â&#x20AC;? said
Councilman Larry Klein, who led
the council last year in adopting an
official â&#x20AC;&#x153;no confidenceâ&#x20AC;? stance on
the high-speed rail project in its current form.
Palo Alto officials have consistently criticized the rail authorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
estimations of potential ridership
and revenue and urged the California High-Speed Rail Authority to
scrap any design options involving
elevated trains on the Peninsula.
The three lawmakers on Monday endorsed this position and said their vision of â&#x20AC;&#x153;high-speed rail done rightâ&#x20AC;?
does not involve aerial viaducts.
Simitian said the proposal was
inspired by a public hearing he and
state Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long
Beach) hosted in Palo Alto in January 2010. Hundreds of people voiced
their concerns about the proposed
$44 billion rail line, which would
stretch from San Francisco to Los
Angeles.
One member of the public advocated halting the high-speed rail
system in San Jose and allowing
passengers to transfer to Caltrain if
they wish to go further north. Simitian said that while he felt there were
some problems with that proposal,
the â&#x20AC;&#x153;underlying notionâ&#x20AC;? stayed with
him.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The announcement we made
yesterday is a direct outcome of
the hearing we had here 15 months
ago,â&#x20AC;? Simitian said.
He also emphasized the proposal
would not require passengers to
switch trains in San Jose. The newly electrified Caltrain infrastructure
would enable trains to achieve the
same speed â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 120 mph â&#x20AC;&#x201D;as the
proposed high-speed rail system is
expected to reach on the Peninsula,
he said.
The rail authorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current plans
call for building a system between
San Francisco and Los Angeles and
later expanding it to Sacramento
and San Diego. California voters
approved $9 billion for the project
in 2008, when they passed Proposition 1A.
Concurrent with the three lawmakersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; announcement, the Penin(continued on page 7)
*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;ÂŤĂ&#x20AC;Â&#x2C6;Â?Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x201C;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁÂŁĂ&#x160;U Page 5
Upfront
News Digest
AT&T drops plan for cell tower at church
AT&T has abandoned its plan to install a cell tower at St. Albert
the Great Church in Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Crescent Park neighborhood after the
church withdrew from the proposal, AT&T and church officials said.
The church informed the company Monday that it no longer wants
to serve as the site of a 50-foot cell tower â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a project that galvanized
opposition from the churchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neighbors. While Palo Alto planning director Curtis Williams gave the proposal for 1095 Channing Ave. the
cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tentative approval, residents appealed the decision, prompting
the city to schedule public hearings on the project.
But the churchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision to withdraw from its negotiations with
AT&T effectively kills the plan. The Rev. Matthew Stanley said the
church decided to withdraw the application because of feedback from
the neighborhood. He estimated that about two-thirds of the residents
near the church said they opposed the project, citing concerns about
health effects and aesthetic impacts.
AT&T spokesman Lane Kasselman said the churchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision means
the company would have to find other sites in the city for cell infrastructure. The company has consistently maintained that the new infrastructure is needed to meet the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growing wireless-communication
demand. N
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Gennady Sheyner
Palo Alto cleaver attacker gets plea deal
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Chunren Chen, the restaurant worker who struck a fellow employee
with a meat cleaver during an argument at a Palo Alto restaurant in
2009, reached a plea deal on Monday that could send him to prison
for five to 12 years.
Chen, 64, has admitted he attacked co-worker Zezhong Yang at the
Jade Palace restaurant in Palo Alto on May 27, 2009. Records show he
had a previous arrest for a â&#x20AC;&#x153;similarâ&#x20AC;? assault with a deadly weapon in
Alameda County in 1997.
He was charged with attempted murder and aggravated mayhem for
the attack on Yang and life in prison if convicted.
But his case proved to be more complicated than a simple crime of
rage. At a May 8, 2010, hearing, it was revealed that Chen had been
tortured and â&#x20AC;&#x153;re-educatedâ&#x20AC;? by the Communist regime in China during
the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.
Chen later had a mental breakdown and was hospitalized, according
to the judgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s notes. A psychotherapist who examined him in December 2009 concluded that Chen likely has post-traumatic stress disorder,
attention-deficit hyperactive disorder and anxiety disorders, according
to the notes.
Judge Douglas Southard indicated during Mondayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hearing that an
eight-year sentence could be appropriate, Santa Clara County Deputy
District Attorney James Demertzis said.
Chenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sentencing will take place June 20. N
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Sue Dremann
Weekly, Palo Alto Online win top state honors
The Palo Alto Weekly and PaloAltoOnline.com garnered 10 firstand second-place awards Saturday (April 16) in an annual statewide
journalism competition, including for best website, investigative reporting, business story and photo essay.
The Better Newspapers Contest, sponsored by the California Newspaper Publishers Association, covers reporting from November 2009
to October 2010. The awards were announced in Los Angeles.
The first-place honors were given for:
s 4HE 7EEKLYS TWO
PART INVESTIGATIVE SERIES ON THE ETHICS AND PRACtices of high school coaching, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Out of bounds?â&#x20AC;? by writer Terri Lobdell and editors Jocelyn Dong and Jay Thorwaldson
s ! BUSINESS STORY ABOUT 0ALO !LTOS BURGEONING CLEAN
TECH SECTOR
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Green Revolution,â&#x20AC;? by Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
s ! PHOTO ESSAY ABOUT NEW MEDICAL TREATMENTS AND THERAPIES FOR ANImals, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Veterinary Innovations,â&#x20AC;? by Staff Photographer Veronica Weber
s 4HE 7EEKLYS NEWS AND COMMUNITY WEBSITE
0ALO!LTO/NLINE
com.
The categories for which the Weekly received second-place recognition were:
s 'ENERAL EXCELLENCE FOR THE 7EEKLYS EDITIONS IN -ARCH
s 0UBLIC SERVICE FOR ITS SERIES ON MENTAL HEALTH AMONG YOUTH
h7HAT
teens needâ&#x20AC;?
s 'ENERAL NEWS PHOTO FROM THE 'UNN (IGH 3CHOOL GRADUATION
s /NLINE COVERAGE OF THE 3TANFORD (OSPITALS AND #LINICS PROPOSED
redevelopment, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Seeking the cureâ&#x20AC;?
s %DITORIAL COMMENT FOR A COLUMN ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL COACHING
h2Eforming Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s high school sportsâ&#x20AC;?
s 3PORTS COVERAGE FOR ITS 3EPT AND 3EPT
EDITIONS
The Weeklyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sister papers on the Peninsula, the Mountain View
Voice and the Almanac, also took home honors. N
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Palo Alto Weekly staff
LETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DISCUSS: Read the latest local news headlines
and talk about the issues at Town Square at PaloAltoOnline.com
Hospital project
(continued from page 3)
use tax licenses that would direct
construction-use taxes to the city.
Michael Peterson, Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vice
president for special projects, outlined the offer in a Wednesday memo
to City Manager James Keene, who
shared Wednesday night at a meeting of the City Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Policy and
Services Committee. The new offer
addresses the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s major concerns
about the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impacts on the
cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bottom line, he said.
The committee voted 2-1, with
Councilwoman Karen Holman dissenting and Councilman Larry Klein
abstaining, to recommend approval,
in concept, of the latest draft of the
development agreement. Committee
Chair Gail Price and Councilman
Pat Burt both said they support the
proposed document.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m glad to see that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d been
able to have a proposal come before us that appears to really for the
most part address our concerns,â&#x20AC;?
Burt said.
The full council will still have to
approve the proposed development
agreement.
In addition to the â&#x20AC;&#x153;cost neutralityâ&#x20AC;? assurance, Stanford has offered
a package of â&#x20AC;&#x153;benefitsâ&#x20AC;? that includes
Caltrain Go Passes for all hospital
employees ($90.9 million), four new
Marguerite shuttles ($25 million),
a permanent transportation demand
management coordinator ($5.1 million over 51 years) and a contribution
to AC Transit, along with a lease of
parking spaces at Ardenwood Park
and Ride ($5 million).
Stanford has also agreed to make
payments to the city for community health programs ($4 million),
patient benefits for low-income
residents ($3 million), affordable
housing programs ($23 million)
and climate-change efforts ($12
million). The hospitals estimate the
total value package to equal about
$173 million.
City officials estimate the benefit package at about $43.6 million
and claim that the Go Passes actually constitute a â&#x20AC;&#x153;mitigationâ&#x20AC;? that
Stanford is required to provide to
get environmental clearance for the
hospital project, which will bring
1.3 million square feet of new development and 2,242 new employees
to the city.
Holman argued that Stanford
should be asked to provide more
benefits, including extending of the
CITYS LEASE OF %L #AMINO 0ARK
GIVing the city a right-of-way bike path
near Gunn High School and provision of an upstream retention basin
to protect the city and its neighbors
against flooding from the San Francisquito Creek.
The city had earlier considered
many of these proposed benefits,
but ultimately discarded them because they are not directly related
to the hospital and its impacts.
Petersonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s letter also notes that
Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s agreement on cost neutrality is contingent on the city not
making more demands of the hospitals.
The hospital expansion includes
a new Stanford Hospital & Clinics
Building, an expanded Lucile Packard Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital and renovations to the Stanford University
School of Medicine. N
Upfront
Caltrain
(continued from page 3)
service at some stations (including
California Avenue in Palo Alto) and
closing other stations altogether.
These proposals drew heated opposition from the public, with riders,
business owners and city officials
packing into recent public hearings
to urge the agency to keep its service levels intact.
The board agreed to adopt the
staff proposal to keep all 86 trains
running and to keep stations open
and weekend service intact. But
members also warned that most of
the fixes in the proposal are only
good for the next fiscal year and
that the agency still faces the monumental task of getting permanent,
dedicated funding.
This is the third year that the
Caltrain board has declared a fiscal
Obama visit
(continued from page 3)
being laid off from a technology
company two years ago.
In the search for employment, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I
had to keep lowering the wage that
Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d work for until it got to the point
where I would take anything,â&#x20AC;? said
Peterson, who now earns $8 an hour
sorting packages through a temporary
agency, with no health insurance.
Peterson, who exhausted his unemployment benefits, said he and
his disabled wife were able to save
their house from foreclosure only
emergency.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The reality is that we have to
be in this together during these
two years to come up with a solution because we could be back here
with something far more serious
than what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re talking about now,â&#x20AC;?
said Director Adrienne Tissier, who
made the motion to accept the new
budget plan.
Director Liz Kniss said she was
â&#x20AC;&#x153;amazedâ&#x20AC;? that the agency was able
to come up with a plan this quickly and called the proposal â&#x20AC;&#x153;very
satisfying.â&#x20AC;? Director Ken Yeager
agreed, though he acknowledged
that the long-term problem is far
from solved.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think we all sensed the message
that this is a service that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like
to maintain as much as we could,â&#x20AC;?
Yeager said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Even though we got
the little train up the hill this time,
thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of clouds.â&#x20AC;?
Board Vice Chair Omar Ahmad,
who along with Chair Sean Elsbernd
and Director Jose Cisneros opposed
the resolution, called the proposal
a â&#x20AC;&#x153;one-time spending planâ&#x20AC;? that
is â&#x20AC;&#x153;not a solutionâ&#x20AC;? to the agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
financial struggles. He proposed
an amendment that, barring a new
funding source, would have established a 48-weekday-train model as
the â&#x20AC;&#x153;sustainableâ&#x20AC;? service model for
the agency. His amendment failed,
with only Elsbernd and Cisneros
supporting it.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I absolutely guarantee with the
budget weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re about to adopt, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be
here in January or February declaring a fiscal emergency,â&#x20AC;? Elsbernd
said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The underbelly of this system
is completely corroded.â&#x20AC;? N
with the support of family, friends
and assistance from Sacred Heart
Community Services of San Jose.
Though the president was not in
Palo Alto for the low-wage workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
morning rally, he encouraged Americans to pull together during the town
hall meeting, returning to his â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yes
We Canâ&#x20AC;? campaign message.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve just got more work to do.
Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get frustrated and cynical
about our democracy. Just remember weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been through tougher
times before. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always come
out on top,â&#x20AC;? he said.
The only way to accomplish the
vision is by people taking part and
remaining active in the political
process, he said.
Several attendees said that message stood out most in Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
town hall discussion.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;He made a good point that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
not all up to him. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a collective
effort of the nation, and we all have
to do our part too,â&#x20AC;? Nicole Sallie, an
attorney, said. N
Staff Writer Sue Dremann can
be emailed at sdremann@paweekly.com. Editor Jocelyn Dong and
Staff Writer Chris Kenrick contributed to this story. They can be
reached at jdong@paweekly.com
and ckenrick@paweekly.com.
Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
can be emailed at gsheyner@
paweekly.com.
High-speed rail
(continued from page 5)
sula Corridor Joint Powers Board,
which governs Caltrain, stated Monday it is looking for ways in which
it can play a central role in accommodating high-speed-train service
on the Peninsula.
Caltrain officials are lobbying
the state rail authority for a â&#x20AC;&#x153;phased
approachâ&#x20AC;? to high-speed rail in
which an electrified Caltrain system would be used for high-speed
rail trains in the first phase of the
project. This approach would allow high-speed-train operations
in the Peninsula without requiring
the construction of a new rail sys-
tem in the Caltrain corridor.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Subsequent phases would expand the capacity of the system to
meet additional (high-speed) ridership demand if needed,â&#x20AC;? Caltrain
announced in a statement.
Caltrain officials said a series of
feasibility studies would include
ridership projections, service plans,
cost estimates and impact analysis.
They project that electrifying the
system and adding other improvement such as a new signaling system and new trains, would reduce
the agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s operating deficit by 45
percent by 2019. N
Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
can be e-mailed at gsheyner@
paweekly.com.
Elizabeth F. Gamble Garden
Spring Tour
Friday & Saturday
April 29 & 30, 10~4
OUTDOOR LIVING IN
PALO ALTO
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1431 Waverley Street, Palo Alto
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Champion Kinder International School
(2 to 5 Years)
WWWCHAMPIONYESCOM
Summer
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3UNNYVALE
3ARATOGA 2OAD
3UNNYVALE s
! -ANDARIN )MMERSION 0RESCHOOL "RINGS A 7ORLD OF /PPORTUNITY
New School Year Enrollment
Pre-K (4 to 5 years) Sunrise Class Demonstration Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x2C6;`>Ă&#x17E;]Ă&#x160;>Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x2C6;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁÂŁĂ&#x160;UĂ&#x160;x\Ă¤Ă¤Â&#x2021;Ă&#x2C6;\Ă¤Ă¤Ă&#x160;ÂŤÂ&#x201C;
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Upfront
Online This Week
These and other news stories were posted on Palo Alto Online throughout
the week. For longer versions, go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com/news
or click on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Newsâ&#x20AC;? in the left, green column.
#HAMPION 9OUTH %NRICHMENT 3CHOOL Â­xĂ&#x160;Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;9i>Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x192;ÂŽ
PG&E set to begin gas line tests in Mountain View
s s s s s
PG&E is mobilizing this week to begin pressure testing major
gas pipelines in Mountain View â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one of the first two Bay Area
cities to see a new round of gas pipe testing following the catastrophic explosion of a pipeline in San Bruno last year. (Posted April
+INDERGARTEN !FTER 3CHOOL /PEN (OUSE AND #LASS $EMO
PALO ALTO CAMPUS
{Ă&#x2030;Ă&#x201C;Â&#x2122;Ă&#x2030;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁÂŁĂ&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x2C6;`>Ă&#x17E;]Ă&#x160;x\Ă&#x17D;Ă¤Â&#x2021;Ă&#x2C6;\Ă&#x17D;Ă¤
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21 at 9:01 a.m.)
Menlo Park school funding: Bad news gets worse
Local elementary school districts have been bracing and adjusting for
dramatic funding cuts for the next school year as the state wrestles with
a $12 billion projected budgetary shortfall. (Posted April 21 at 8:56 a.m.)
Photo gallery: President Obama visits Palo Alto
President Barack Obama visited Palo Alto Wednesday (April 20) to
take part in a â&#x20AC;&#x153;town hallâ&#x20AC;? meeting entitled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shared Responsibility and
Shared Prosperityâ&#x20AC;? from Facebook headquarters on Page Mill Road.
(Posted April 20 at 3:35 p.m.)
L U C I L E PA C K A R D
C H I L D R E N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S H O S P I TA L
Escondido principal to move to Fairmeadow
Escondido School in Palo Alto was searching for a new principal
Tuesday (April 19) after the announcement that 15-year Principal Gary
Prehn will become principal of Fairmeadow School this fall. (Posted April
20 at 9:53 a.m.)
VIDEO: Robo-party
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Lucile Packard Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital offers classes and seminars designed
to foster good health and enhance the lives of parents and children.
THE FUTURE AND PERSONALIZED HEALTHCARE:
THE ROLE OF GENES, DATA AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Engineers, hobbyists, and robot lovers of all ages congregated at
Stanford University on April 14 during National Robotics Week to
attend the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second annual â&#x20AC;&#x153;Robot Block Party.â&#x20AC;? (Posted April
19 at 10:41 a.m.)
Bus driver charged with vehicular manslaughter
A SamTrans bus driver who struck and killed a woman in a Palo
Alto crosswalk last December will face a misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charge, Rob Baker, Santa Clara County supervising deputy
district attorney, said Monday (April 18). (Posted April 18 at 5:26 p.m.)
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DADS OF DAUGHTERS
Second mountain lion sighting in Woodside
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An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.4 hit at 2:57 p.m. Monday
(April 18) about 2 miles southwest of San Bruno, according to the U.S.
Geological Survey. A 1.5-magnitude aftershock was reported minutes
later. (Posted April 18 at 3:09 p.m.)
A mountain lion was spotted early Monday morning (April 18) in
Woodside, the second such sighting to occur in the town in as many
days, emergency officials said. (Posted April 18 at 3:16 p.m.)
Horse accident near Dish injures woman
A 63-year-old woman sustained neurological injuries to her back
and neck after falling off her horse near Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dish on Saturday
(April 16), according to the Palo Alto Fire Department. (Posted April 16
at 7:58 p.m.)
Two-alarm fire destroys Palo Alto home
A fire destroyed a home in Palo Alto Saturday morning (April 16),
displacing three people, Palo Alto Fire Battalion Chief Chris Woodard
said. (Posted April 16 at 8:05 p.m.)
Train hits car in Palo Alto, kills out-of-town driver
A woman was killed on the Caltrain tracks Friday afternoon (April
15) when the car she was driving was struck by a train shortly after
5 p.m. at the Charleston Road crossing. The driver, a woman in her
60s from Indiana, was heading eastbound on Charleston when her
Nissan Altima was struck by a northbound Express train. (Posted April
15 at 5:44 p.m.)
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LU C I L E PA C K A R D
A Sunnyvale man was arrested for indecent exposure Wednesday
(April 13) after allegedly flashing a Mountain View woman in the
parking lot of the Rite Aid on Grant Road. The incident was captured
on the womanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cell phone camera. (Posted April 15 at 2:41 p.m.)
C H I L D R E Nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S
Stanford proposes campus in New York City
H O S P I T A L
V I S I T W W W. L P C H . O R G TO S I G N U P F O R C L A S S E S
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Victimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s snapshot helps police nab flasher
Visions of a Stanford University campus beneath a Manhattan skyline were sketched out by Stanford President John Hennessy Thursday
(April 14) in a presentation on the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bid to develop a research
center in New York City. (Posted April 15 at 8:41 a.m.)
Upfront
CityView
305 N. California at Bryant • (650)327-0561 • www.fbc-paloalto.org
April 21,
Go to
www.rescue.org/altweeklies
6PM
Supper followed by Family Service
April 22, 12-3PM
Good Friday, Sanctuary Open for
Prayer and Meditation
April 24,
FAMILY EASTER CELEBRATION
10AM
11:30AM
Easter Egg Hunt & Brunch
Palo Alto government action this week
City Council (April 19)
Simitian: The council had its annual meeting with state Sen. Joe Simitian. The meeting included a status report on the state’s high-speed-rail project and the city’s request for a law allowing “conservation pricing” for refuse operations. Action: None
Finance Committee (April 19)
Gas: The committee discussed long-term financial projections and revenue requirements of the gas utility. Action: None
Fiber rates: The committee approved a staff recommendation to amend the rate
schedule for the fiber-optic service. Yes: Unanimous
Electricity: The committee approved a transfer of $5.2 million from the Calaveras
Reserve to the Electric Utility operating budget. Yes: Scharff, Shepherd, Yeh No:
Schmid
Policy and Services Committee (April 20)
Stanford Hospital: The committee voted to recommend approving, in concept, the
proposed development agreement with Stanford University Medical Center that
would allow Stanford to expand its hospital facilities. Yes: Burt, Price No: Holman
Abstained: Klein
Architectural Review Board (April 21)
Stanford Hospital: The board voted to approve a new 1.1M-square-foot hospital
building with the condition that plans for a kiosk come back to committee for consent. Yes: Lew, Malone Prichard, Wasserman, Young Abstained: Lee
Hewlett Packard: The board voted to approve a new two-story executive briefing
center at HP headquarters on 3000 Hanover. Yes: Lew, Wasserman, Young Abstained: Lee, Malone Prichard
145 Hamilton Avenue: The board voted to approve façade improvements to an existing multi-storey building. Yes: Unanimous
167 Hamilton Avenue: The board voted to approve façade improvements over the
entire building, as well as outdoor seating and other minor improvements associated
with a new restaurant on the ground floor, with three specific matters expected back
for review. Yes: Unanimous
2585 East Bayshore Road: The board voted to approve a change in use of an existing building from office to daycare, with minor exterior changes including the addition
of a fenced play area, replacement of 18 parking stalls, and a new trash enclosure.
Yes: Unanimous
Upcoming Events
Business-After-Hours Mixer
540 Bryant Street April 27 5:30–7 pm
Hosted by University Chiropractic
Free to Chamber Members $10 Non-members
Anatolian Art—Ribbon Cutting
532 Ramona Street Palo Alto April 29 2–2:30 pm
Hors d’oeuvres
Save the Date: “Grow Your Business” Lunch
May 18 Noon–1:30 pm
Information: 650.324.3121 Reservations: PaloAltoChamber.com
Thanks to Our Event Sponsors
Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce
122 Hamilton Avenue
Palo Alto
650.324.3121
design by harrington design
A round-up of
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH PALO ALTO
Help us
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Public Agenda
A preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week
CITY COUNCIL ... The council has no meetings scheduled next week.
PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION ... The commission plans to
hear updates on activities and projects at the Palo Alto Baylands and on
the Infrastructure Blue Ribbon Task Force. The commission also plans to
prepare for its joint session with the Planning and Transportation Commission and consider a recommendation to pursue a long-term lease for
El Camino Park. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 26, in the
Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).
BOARD OF EDUCATION ... The board will discuss district-wide academic
calendars for 2012-13 and 2013-14. Board members also will hear updates
on the achievement gap and on budget planning. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 26, in the board room of school
district headquarters (25 Churchill Ave.).
UTILITIES ADVISORY COMMISSION ... The commission plans to discuss
possible smart-grid applications, the city’s electric-vehicle policies and infrastructure, and the city’s economic-development report. The meeting will
begin at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 27, in the Council Conference Room at
City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).
PLANNING AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ... The commission
plans to discuss 2080 Channing Ave., a proposal to amend the existing
planned community (PC) zone to allow renovation of three retail structures,
relocation of one retail structure and construction of 10 homes. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 27, in the Council Chambers at
City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).
RAIL COMMITTEE ... The committee plans to hear a status report on Caltrain and get legislative updates about Caltrain and the state’s proposed
high-speed-rail system. The meeting will begin at 8 a.m. Thursday, April
28, in the Council Conference Room (250 Hamilton Ave.).
INFRASTRUCTURE BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE ... The committee plans
to continue its discussion of the city’s infrastructure needs and possible
ways to pay for the items on the infrastructure backlog. The meeting will
begin at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 28, in the Lucie Stern Community Room
(1305 Middlefield Road).
LIBRARY ADVISORY COMMISSION ... The commission plans to hear an
update on the bond-funded library-construction projects, including design
plans for the Main Library. The commission will also discuss the 2011
Service Efforts and Accomplishments Report. The meeting will begin at 7
p.m. Thursday, April 28, in the Council Conference Room in City Hall, (250
Hamilton Ave.).
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Meredith Duncan Whitaker
Meredith Duncan Whitaker passed away February
17 at her home in San Luis Obispo; she was 83.
Born in Palo Alto, CA, in August 1927, she was the
only child of Edith Lang Duncan and Bryan Duncan,
her Stanford professor father, who died when she was
four. Meredith grew up on the Stanford campus, attending Stanford Elementary, Jordan Jr. and Palo Alto
Sr. High Schools (‘45) and Stanford University, graduating in 1949.
July 3, 1948, she married Stanford civil engineering
student Ralph Whitaker, Jr. in the Stanford Chapel.
They established their ﬁrst home locally, moving to
Sacramento after graduation in 1949 and returning
to the peninsula in 1952. Meredith lived in Palo Alto
for over 60 years and retired ﬁrst to San Diego, then
San Luis Obispo to stay close to her youngest granddaughters.
Early in the 1950’s, she joined the Preschool Family Cooperative Nursery School with her children and
was mentored by education pioneer Besse Bolton.
Meredith returned to early childhood education late
in life, working for the Palo Alto School District until
retirement.
Throughout, Meredith was committed to and active on issues of human rights, social justice, the environment and peace. The Unitarian-Universalist
Fellowship, American
Association of University Women (AAUW),
Beyond War, and the Sierra Club have been her
partners in this work.
Meredith is survived
by her husband, Ralph,
of 62 years, daughter
Janice Mancuso, Portland, OR, sons David Whitaker, San Jose, and Alan
Whitaker, Mountain View, and daughter Nancy
Harper. Also son-in-law Dan Harper, granddaughters,
Lauren (17 yrs) and Kelsey Harper (14 yrs) of San Luis
Obispo. In addition to, Alan’s daughter, granddaughter, Melinda Whitaker and great-grandson Tristan
Ralston of Houston, TX.
A Celebrations of Meredith’s life will be held at 2 pm
Saturday, June 25 at the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship in Palo Alto. No RSVP necessary.
A favorite quote of Meredith’s;
“You must be the change you wish to see in the
world.” Mahatma Ghandi.
For contact info for Ralph, email daughter Nancy,
sloharper@gmail.com.
PA I D
OBITUARY
Christiane Cook
Christiane Gilberte Barbarin Cook died at
home in Palo Alto on March 19, 2011. She was
born in Paris in June, 1920 to Pierre Barbarin
and Georgette Boige Barbarin. After the loss
and hardship of the Nazi occupation, she came
to the United States in 1946 to the University
of California at Berkeley. She earned a PhD in
Romance Languages and Literature in 1965.
Christiane’s ﬁrst year in the United
States, lived among other expatriates in
the International House at Berkeley, was
formative for her life of scholarship and
activism. After teaching one year at the
Punahou School in Hawaii she came to
San Jose State University. Overcoming bias
against women professors, she rose through
the ranks to chair her department and direct
graduate students in their independent work.
Working very closely with her students, she
forged many friendships which continued
until her death.
Always the revolutionary and heavily
inﬂuenced by her experiences during WWII
in France, Christiane was a committed ﬁghter
for peace and justice. She was a paciﬁst and
always an advocate for children and others
she believed to be ill served or under served
by civil institutions. She believed that in a
democracy it is incumbent upon all citizens
to express their views and participate in
public life. She shared her voice regularly
through her poetry and was known for her
frequent letters to the editors of local and area
newspapers. Always an ardent defender of
Page 10ÊUÊ«ÀÊÓÓ]ÊÓä££ÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞ
constitutional and civil
rights, she belonged
to the American Civil
Liberties Union, the
American Constitution
Society, the Humanist
Community in Silicon
Valley, and the Southern
Poverty Law Center.
A Palo Alto resident of more than 50 years,
Christiane was a familiar and colorful ﬁgure
around town, often attending City Council
meetings and other events. The consummate
French woman, she loved great food and
conversation, and was a regular at Palo Alto’s
French-owned restaurants. She lived life as
she dressed, in smart, bold colors and always
with a sense of humor. She was truly a force
of nature. For her energy, her heart, her wit,
and her penchant for breaking into song
whenever she heard her favorite Edith Piaf
songs, she will be missed.
Christiane’s sister, Solange, died in 2010;
her husband, A. James Cook, a computer
scientist at Stanford Linear Accelerator
Center, died in 1988.
She is survived by her daughter, Christine
Stone of Palm Desert; grandchildren: Monica
Stone, Jonathan Stone and Emily Stone; great
grandchildren, Sabrina and Abbot, “honorary
grandchildren”, Sophie and Maite, and her
close friend, Paul Gilbert. A person who truly
valued friendships, she leaves behind many
friends and admirers.
PA I D
OBITUARY
Transitions
Deaths
Frank Ratliff
Frank Ratliff, 85, a former Palo
Alto high-school teacher, died
March 29, 2011, after a short illness.
He was born
in Natchez,
Miss., Jan.
24, 1926. After graduating
from Natchez
High School
in 1943, he
served in the
U.S. Army
from 1944-1946 and again from
1949-1952. Between deployments,
he attended Mississippi State, then
Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma
State), where he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism. He received a master’s degree in history
from U.C. Berkeley.
After two years at Truckee High
School he taught at Cubberley High
School from 1957 to 1962, then
served as an advanced-programs
consultant to the Palo Alto Unified School District 1962-64, and
was instrumental in designing the
progressive humanities curriculum
for the English and Social Studies
programs at Gunn High School. He
taught at Gunn from the school’s
opening in 1964 until his retirement
in 1988, serving in his last two years
at Gunn as a mentor to other teachers as well.
During his nearly 30 years of
teaching, he received numerous
awards, grants, fellowships and
other recognition. He was an active
contributor to numerous professional
associations, holding various leadership positions in local, state and national teachers’ organizations.
His areas of special interest were
composition; American and British
Today’s news,
sports & hot picks
literature; Greek mythology, drama,
and literature; and film studies. He
was much-beloved by his students,
not the least for his dry wit, friends
recalled. He would sign yearbooks
with a rubber stamp. The message
changed several times over the
years, but the one most remembered by former students read “To
my Favorite Student, Sincerely,
Frank Ratliff.” He spent many of his
summers enriching his professional
knowledge and experience, including two summers as principal at the
AIFS Royal Academy of Music in
London.
He had a life-long interest in theater and film, and was an enthusiastic supporter of dramatic productions
at Gunn. He also wrote screenplays.
He was a member of the American
Film Institute, past president of the
California Arts Society, and a longtime subscriber to the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the San
Francisco Early Music Society.
A memorial service will be held
Saturday, May 7, at 11 a.m. at Unity
Church, 3391 Middlefield Road,
Palo Alto.
Memorial donations may be made
to the Frank E. Ratliff Fellowship
Fund for doctoral students in classics at U.C. Berkeley, c/o Gift Administration, 2080 Addison St.,
#4200, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Births
Cynthia and March Peachey
of Palo Alto, a daughter, March
10.
Maria Daltayanni and Panagiotis Papadimitriou of
Menlo Park, a son, March 12.
Katherine and Oswald Cuervo of Palo Alto, a son, March
15.
Jesuita and Joel Rivera of
East Palo Alto, a son, March
19.
Ana Mariscal and Justo
Menjivar of East Palo Alto, a
son, March 26.
Dorothy and David Sacerdote of Palo Alto, a son, March
30.
Perla Garcia-Prado and
Daniel Villarreal of Menlo
Park, a son, April 11.
Margery J. Benedict
October 8, 1922-April 5, 2011
Margery passed away peacefully with her two daughters by
her side. Margery was born in West Liberty, Iowa, and came to
California after receiving her teaching credential. While teaching
in Menlo Park, Margery, met her husband, Harold Benedict. It
was in Palo Alto that they raised their two daughters, Mary Ann
and Jean. Margery was active in P.E.O., and loved to travel. She
is preceeded in death by her husband, Harold Benedict. Margery
leaves behind her two daughters, Jean Benedict and Mary Ann
Kempner, as well as ﬁve grandchildren, Sarah and Rebecca Ting,
and Sam, Katharine, and William Kempner. A celebration of
her life will be held at The Terraces At Los Altos on May 9, at
2:00 PM in the Fellowship Hall. Friends are invited to attend
and remember her life. In lieu of ﬂowers, the family asks that
donations be made to Pathways Hospice Foundation or The
Terraces At Los Altos.
PA I D
OBITUARY
Pulse
A weekly compendium of vital statistics
Palo Alto
April 12-19
Violence related
Arson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Theft related
Commercial burglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Credit card forgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Residential burglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Shoplifting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Vehicle related
Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Driving w/ suspended license . . . . . . . . .6
Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Lost/stolen plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Misc. traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .8
Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . 12
Vehicle impound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Alcohol or drug related
Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Miscellaneous
Brandishing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Disobey court order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Elder abuse/financial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Juvenile problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Misc. penal code violation . . . . . . . . . . .1
Muni code misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Outside investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .5
Trespassing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Menlo Park
April 12-18
Violence related
Assault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Domestic disturbance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Spousal abuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Suicide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Theft related
Burglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Credit card forgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Residential burglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Vehicle related
Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Stolen vehicle recovery. . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Suspended/revoked license . . . . . . . . . .5
Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .1
Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .1
Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Alcohol or drug related
Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Miscellaneous
Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Info case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Juvenile problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Located missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Medical evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Mental evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Missing juvenile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .1
Threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Atherton
Vehicle/traffic hazard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Miscellaneous
Animal call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Attempt to contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Be on the lookout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Building/perimeter check . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Citizen assist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Civil matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Construction complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Construction site check . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
CPS case/referral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Disturbing/annoying phone calls. . . . . . .1
Foot patrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Located missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Medical aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Missing juvenile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Special detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .1
Suspicious person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Town ordinance violation . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Trespassing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Welfare check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
The Stanford Historical Society Presents
Seventh Annual House & Garden Tour
An Architectural Sampler of Stanford
Sunday, May 1, 2011, 1 to 4 p.m.
VIOLENT CRIMES
Palo Alto
Forest Avenue, 4/13, 3:30 p.m.; domestic
violence/battery.
El Camino Real, 4/15, 5:39 p.m.; arson.
Menlo Park
El Camino Real, 4/12, 6:14 p.m.; domestic
disturbance.
Sharon Park Drive/Sharon Road, 4/14,
8:44 a.m.; assault.
Sharon Park Drive, 4/14, 10:05 a.m.;
suicide.
San Antonio Street, 4/18, 5:02 p.m.;
spousal abuse.
Atherton
Almendal Avenue, 4/14, 9:25 a.m.; child/
elder abuse.
Three pre-1930 houses and two 1936 residences
Architects represented include A. B. and Birge Clark,
Charles K. Sumner, and Frank Lloyd Wright
Tickets are $25 each (before April 16)
And $30 the day of the event
Refreshments & shuttle ride included
Tour information & directions: http://histsoc.stanford.edu
Questions: 650-324-1653 or 650-725-3332
This space donated as community service by the Palo Alto Weekly
April 13-18
Violence related
Child/elder abuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Theft related
Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Vehicle related
Abandoned auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Parking problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Processed vehicle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Suspicious vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Ticket sign-off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
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An online directory
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Search obituaries,
submit a memorial,
share a photo.
Visit:
PaloAltoOnline.com/
obituaries
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*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊ«ÀÊÓÓ]ÊÓä££ÊU Page 11
Editorial
A better course for
high-speed rail
T
he idea of “blending” Caltrain and high-speed trains on the twotrack Peninsula rail corridor has been floated before, but now
that such a plan has been proposed by a team of strong Peninsula
legislators it has a much better chance of being heard by the California
High-Speed Rail Authority.
If it can be done without sacrificing the promise of airline-competitive service between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the proposal to
have high-speed rail share an upgraded Caltrain line beginning in San
Jose instead of building additional tracks looks like a win-win for the
authority, the city and the many residents along the route who have
huge issues with the project.
State Sen. Joe Simitian spoke to an adoring Palo Alto City Council
Tuesday about the plan that he, Rep. Anna Eshoo and Assemblyman
Rich Gordon presented earlier in the week. Their proposal acknowledged that financially, the state simply cannot afford to add two more
rail lines to the corridor, when the existing two tracks and occasional
“passing” tracks could suffice, much as Baby Bullet trains share the
rails with local trains today. Such a “blended” system could allow highspeed rail trains to arrive in San Jose for a brief stop before continuing
on to San Francisco with its full load of passengers, who would not
have to change trains.
City Council member Nancy Shepherd told Simitian that the announcement “struck a good note” and gives her the feeling that the
city is finally getting heard. Larry Klein, who chairs the council’s
Rail Committee, said the plan is “constructive” and he congratulated
Simitian for putting the plan together.
Klein’s support was significant since he led the council in adopting a
“no confidence” stand on the rail project in its present form.
If such a plan is adopted by the rail authority it would be a tremendous
boost for Caltrain, which would finally be able to electrify its engines
and complete at least some of the grade separations necessary to run
truly high-speed trains. And the neighboring cities of Menlo Park and
Atherton, as well as Palo Alto, would be able to breathe easier, without
fear that property owners along the corridor would lose portions of their
back yards to eminent-domain takings by the rail authority.
Combining use of the Caltrain tracks would eliminate a host of other
negative impacts that would come with building an additional twotrack high-speed rail line between San Jose and San Francisco, including years of major upheaval caused by construction of the lines in the
cities along the route.
Speaking for himself, Eshoo and Gordon at his initial presentation,
Simitian called the plan a “first step in a new conversation” that intends
to create “high-speed rail done right.” He noted a series of critical
audits of the rail project by various state agencies and the Institute of
Transportation Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, which
found a series of flaws in the rail authority’s business plan, ridership
analysis and revenue projections.
“Frankly, a great many of our constituents are convinced that the
High-Speed Rail Authority has already wandered so far afield that it is
too late for a successful course correction.”
“If high-speed rail isn’t done right” it simply won’t get done at all,
he said.
Another key change recommended by the three legislators was for the
rail authority to forget about elevated structures such as aerial viaducts.
And they endorsed the plan for the new rail system to run through the
existing Caltrain corridor.
“Given the current financial straits at the federal and state level,
amassing the funds to build this across California will take time,”
Gordon said. “In the interim, there will be funds spent on high-speed
rail and I believe it’s imperative for the High-Speed Rail Authority to
guarantee that whatever funds are spent are spent in a way that enhances and upgrades our existing intercity and regionalized transportation
system in California.”
We expect there will be much more discussion of this alternative plan
in Palo Alto and other Peninsula communities. But it is hard to dispute
the issues raised by the legislators, which many local residents have
been speaking about since shortly after Measure 1A passed in 2008.
Rather than listening to the public, the rail authority board often has
disputed the comments, which has not made them many friends on the
Peninsula. Eshoo acknowledged as much:
“I really believe they have squandered a great deal of goodwill on
the Peninsula by not honoring our communities,” she said. “Each community is unique, each community has its own history, each community
has its own traditions and they’re proud of it and they’re entitled to this
source of pride.”
This proposal is an opportunity for the rail authority to acknowledge
local concerns about their plan to build — at great expense — an unnecessary second set of tracks between San Francisco and San Jose.
There may be many hurdles to overcome, but this is only the beginning of what should become a much longer and productive discussion.
Regardless, for Palo Alto, it is the first positive news about high-speed
rail in many months.
Page 12ÊUÊ«ÀÊÓÓ]ÊÓä££ÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞ
Spectrum
Editorials, letters and opinions
Protect parkland
Editor,
Your ambiguous editorial on the
Park Undedication Initiative (April
1) seems to suggest that it’s okay to
undedicate parkland so that some
future City Council can “have the
option of moving forward ... if
agreement is reached...” on the use.
If any council were convinced
that use of parkland was needed
for a particularly compelling use,
it could put the matter to the voters
with full disclosure of the purpose
as was done with the Winter Lodge
Exchange, for example. In this case,
voters are being asked to buy a “pig
in a poke” by undedicating parkland
without a clear plan for its use.
Parkland is either dedicated or not.
It cannot be “conditionally” undedicated as is suggested by the initiative. The land will be just like any
other land in Palo Alto and you can
be sure that Public Works or some
other city department will want to
make use of it rather than return it to
park dedication in the future.
There is no automatic reversion to
park dedication if the goals of the
Initiative are not achieved.
This latest theme of “creating an
option” to use parkland has only
surfaced since the unfavorable financial analysis of dry anaerobic
digestion. This process has already
cost the Refuse Fund about $2 million and will cost millions more if
the industrial anaerobic digestion
facility is built.
Go to www.savethebaylands.org
to see how ADs look.
Voters should reject this initiative.
Emily M. Renzel, coordinator
Baylands Conservation
Committee
Forest Avenue
Palo Alto
Compost suggestions
Editor,
Regarding the highly divisive proposal to build an anaerobic digestion
facility on city park land, I have two
suggestions.
First, let’s use a more robust
process to assess the project’s economic viability. It’s encouraging
that detailed modeling of the costs
has been developed by an outside
consultant. However, if actual costs
prove to be higher than the consultant’s estimates, the citizens of Palo
Alto will suffer. A better approach
may be to ask private companies to
submit competitive bids to construct
and operate the facility. If the winning bid is lower cost than alternative disposal options, then the project will have proven its economic
viability with no risk to our city’s
budget.
Second, let’s separate the decision regarding whether the project
is economically viable from where
it should be located. We shouldn’t
treat the Palo Alto park land as if
it were “free.” Instead, let’s identify
an alternate site nearby on the Peninsula and add in the investment required to purchase this site. If with
this added investment the total cost
is still lower than the alternative disposal options, then we should move
forward with this alternate site and
preserve our park land.
On the other hand, if the project is
only economically viable if the city
donates the land at zero cost, then
the project isn’t truly viable.
Brian Suckow
Southampton Drive
Palo Alto
Traffic-safety measures
Editor,
The new condominium communities in south Palo Alto need some
attention from the city’s traffic department.
There are about 140 new (since
2008) residences on the two by
two block area that is dissected by
East Meadow. That means there are
about 300 people, maybe more, living in this small area. In addition,
this neighborhood is the main way
for residents from all over town to
access the seasonal underpass to the
Baylands, and there are many cy-
clists who ride here.
Unfortunately, the quarter-mile
section of East Meadow that runs between Fabian Way and East Meadow
Circle is a speedy car thoroughfare
for both local residents and the many
employees of Loral Space Systems
and other businesses that are in this
neighborhood. The drivers do not
respect the speed limit, which is
not posted but which I assume to be
25 mph, nor the stop signs. We 300
residents currently have no safe way
to cross East Meadow or otherwise
maneuver, as pedestrians or cyclists,
around the neighborhood.
I am particularly concerned for
the many small children who live
here who will be beginning to walk
to school within the next few years.
Please help our neighborhood become as safe as the rest of Palo Alto.
We need posted speed-limit signs,
enforcement of the speed limit,
speed bumps and clearly-marked
cross walks, and we need them fast.
These improvements are relatively
inexpensive and easy to make, and
they would benefit a lot of people,
including many small children.
Adrienne Van Gorden
Feather Lane
Palo Alto
YOUR TURN
The Palo Alto Weekly encourages comments on our coverage or on
issues of local interest.
What do you think? Should the High-Speed Rail Authority consider
“blending” Caltrain and high-speed trains on the Peninsula?
Submit letters to the editor of up to 250 words to letters@paweekly.com.
Include your name, address and daytime phone number so we can reach you.
We reserve the right to edit contributions for length, objectionable content, libel
and factual errors known to us. Anonymous letters will generally not be accepted.
You can also participate in our popular interactive online forum, Town
Square, at our community website at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Read
blogs, discuss issues, ask questions or express opinions with you neighbors any
time, day or night.
Submitting a letter to the editor or guest opinion constitutes a granting of
permission to the Palo Alto Weekly and Embarcadero Media to also publish it
online, including in our online archives and as a post on Town Square.
For more information contact Editor Jocelyn Dong or Online Editor Tyler Hanley
at editor@paweekly.com or 650-326-8210.
Check out Town Square!
Hundreds of local topics are being discussed by local residents on
Town Square, a reader forum sponsored by the Weekly on our community website at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Post your own comments,
ask questions, read the Editor’s blog or just stay up on what people are
talking about around town!
On Deadline:
‘The Woj’ has national interests, way beyond Palo Alto High journalism
by Jay Thorwaldson
sther Wojcicki, known as “The Woj” to
the many hundreds of journalism students who have
attended her classes at
Palo Alto High School
over the years, just received a major new set
of honors for her teaching abilities.
Her primary job is
“inspiring students to
think” and be able to
analyze what’s important, then write clearly and concisely about it.
She is one of several Paly teachers who have
created one of the best (if not the best) journalism programs — covering a newspaper,
magazines, website and videos — of any high
school.
But her personal interests go far beyond Paly
to encompass national trends in journalism,
education and even the status of copyright law.
And she’s doing something about those interests.
Last month she received an award from the
Columbia Scholastic Press Association citing
her “stellar achievement in the teaching of student journalists” at a conference at Columbia
University in New York City, the latest of many
awards in her career since she became adviser
to the Paly student newspaper, The Campanile,
in 1984.
The presentation at Columbia was memorable
in more than one way: About 50 Paly students
— who attend the conference each year — enlivened the normally formal, sedate awards announcement by standing up, cheering and dancing around during her brief acceptance speech,
a “California cheering squad.”
Over the years I have followed and admired
E
Woj’s work at Paly, and have spent time with her
classes, sensing the enthusiasm she helps instill
in her students and their regard for her. She reminds me of Elizabeth Girdler, who decades
ago taught me journalism at Los Gatos High
School. She was a courageous defender of the
student press who believed that students can be
responsible journalists.
Locally, the Columbia award for Wojcicki
overshadowed a huge honor given to the Paly
journalism program as a whole: Paly was
awarded the First Amendment Press Freedom
Award by the national Journalism Education
Association — shared with two other high
schools.
Paly’s journalism program will also be featured on the cover of Adobe Systems’ national
magazine, due out in May.
Beyond Paly, “The Woj” follows the careers
of her three daughters: Susan, a senior vice president at Google; Janet, a professor of pediatrics
at University of California, San Francisco; and
Anne, founder and CEO of 23 & Me, a confidential personal genetics-analysis firm.
She has had some fame with the rise of actor James Franco and author of the book, “Palo
Alto,” which includes locally based stories
of his coming of age in town. Franco was in
Wojcicki’s journalism classes for three years in
the mid-1990s. He sent her a large poster of a
photo of the two of them.
Her broader interests focus on two primary
areas, each of which she feels has a vital role to
play in maintaining a healthy democracy and
society.
The first is her involvement in a movement
called “Creative Commons,” which seeks to
open up the copyright laws a bit to allow authors
to offer their work in a way that is accessible
to anyone without losing the writer’s or artist’s
rights to the work, including “open textbooks.”
She is current chair of the Creative Com-
mons’ board.
“We’re working in territory that has never
been charted before,” she said of efforts to
loosen the body of fairly rigid copyright law
that goes back several hundred years.
A recent settlement of a legal action by
Google has concerned many persons who fear
that “orphan books” — those whose authors
cannot be determined or found — may remain
inaccessible to the public.
“Who’s going to do the digital library?” she
asks of the restrictions. “This work belongs to
humanity, but we can’t get it. ... The whole world
is so tied up with monetary things.”
Loosening the copyright system a bit is
“something for the writers to do, not something
done to writers,” she said assuringly.
Another major goal of hers is to focus on
melding the teaching of English and journalism
nationwide, something she has been thinking
about for years — and feeling some frustration
on a national level.
But her thinking is getting some international
attention. The king of Morocco has invited her
to be the keynote speaker in June at the second
annual UNESCO conference, on “The Future
of the Written Word.” Will words be shared
by computers, hand-held devices, magazines,
books, newspapers?
Reading, she notes, is down by 50 percent
over past decades. There is widespread awareness of the plight of many newspapers, especially big-city or metro papers.
But she’s skeptical about many of the new
gadgets, based on surveys she’s taken of students and conversations. When the iPads first
emerged in the past couple of years, some members of the Innovation Journalism group based
at Stanford University and I visited with about
40 Paly journalism students.
None said they planned to buy an iPad, and
only a few had tried one. Too clunky. Same with
Kindles.
Wojcicki said that pattern is holding true, and
that the young people favor having a more powerful laptop combined with an easy-to-carry
iPhone-type device.
“And they don’t Tweet,” she said of the hype
about Twitter, a program that limits communications to 140 digits. She even forced a class to
sign up with Twitter, and they still didn’t use it
— in fact, only 10 percent of her students even
read the Tweet she sent to them about using the
program.
Students are using Facebook, which allows
posting of pictures and text. She also has found
that many students say they prefer actual textbooks over online textbooks. It gives the students a tangible sense of what they need to
master, she said.
Her interest in melding English and journalism education has so far been limited to talks
with English teachers. She has found an unexpected level of resistance to the idea of blending
some basic journalism into the English curricula, as it would mean changing textbooks over
time.
Yet she sees huge advantages. Journalism, she
says, integrates all the core curricula of English, writing, social studies, political science. It
teaches responsibility, integrity and even about
the business of putting out a publication. It prepares one to be a “functioning adult in a democratic society,” if taught properly and with trust
in the students.
“It teaches you how to preserve and what’s
the most important thing” from a set of facts.
“It’s the beginning of thinking.” N
Former Weekly Editor Jay Thorwaldson
can be e-mailed at jthorwaldson@paweekly.
com. He also posts online blogs at www.
PaloAltoOnline.com (below the Town Square
forum).
Streetwise
What are your thoughts on the situation in Libya?
Asked on California Avenue, Palo Alto. Interviews and photographs by Kareem Yasin
Anita Delaney
Librarian
Hutchinson Avenue, Palo Alto
“The situation is very volatile and there
is no easy solution. Personally, I hope
that Gaddafi goes, but I think that the
U.S. intervention itself is very controversial.”
Diane McClamroch
Office Manager
Loma Verde Avenue, Palo Alto
“I’m not really the political type but I
think the intervention there is all about
the oil. The uprisings across the region
are worrying, but it’s just one of those
things.”
Patrick Wollak
Server
A Street, Daly City
“In terms of the U.S. intervention, I
appreciate the administration’s cautious approach in gaining support,
compared to what has been done
previously. The measures taken were
appropriate.”
Art Cole
Real Estate CFO
Virginia Avenue, San Mateo
“The question is, is it a necessary evil?
I guess it is a good thing for us to step
in when we can to try to solve problems but we can’t spread our resources too thin. We need to be careful.”
Dyllon Keebler
Accountant
Middlefield Road, Palo Alto
“It’s a mess. It’s one of those things
where I think that maybe we shouldn’t
have gotten involved. We should be assisting, but not necessarily in the way
we are currently involved. There has
to be more of an international effort in
mediating talks.”
*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊ«ÀÊÓÓ]ÊÓä££ÊU Page 13
Cover Story
g
n
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r
u
t
r
Nu
happier,
t
l
h
a
i
e
e
h
r
Small things go a long
way in boosting emotional
health for teens
A
s a child of divorced parents growing up in the ’60s, Becky Beacom
lived for years with no father in her life.
But she never missed a father-daughter dance, because the dads
of her friends — or other fathers in her neighborhood — made a point of
including her.
As Palo Alto pursues a citywide push to bolster teen mental health in
the aftermath of a devastating teen “suicide cluster” in 2009 and 2010,
Beacom, the health education manager for the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, reflects on the significance of the understated actions by those in
her community.
“It .... gave me daily examples of how fathers and daughters adored
each other — and it transferred to me.
“Who knew how important that would be for my development?”
said the Palo Alto resident and long-married mother of two grown
children.
In the months of grieving and searching dialogue that followed
Palo Alto’s teen suicides, a wide range of community groups,
including the school district, settled on a statistical strategy,
among others, to assess and address the emotional wellness
of the city’s youth: “developmental assets.”
More than 4,000 kids — nearly all Gunn and Palo Alto
high school students as well as seventh-graders and fifthgraders — took a detailed developmental-assets survey on their habits and attitudes last fall.
The recently released data present a mixed
picture of youth well-being in Palo Alto:
While kids possess many strengths,
the majority said they do not feel
valued by their community. And
the older they get, the less valued they feel.
Ironically, for an intellectual community that insists
on research-based policies,
the survey results point to
deceptively simple cures —
intuitive to most people, but
sometimes overlooked in the
crush of life in a high-achieving
town:
story by
Know the names of the kids on your block.
Chris Kenrick
Make eye contact with — maybe even smile
at — young people on University Avenue.
photos by
Take time to care about the opinions of kids
— yours and others’.
Veronica Weber
“If you wanted a book to tell you what the
high school students in Palo Alto have to say
about us adults — what they want from us — you
have it right here,” said Beacom, fingering the voluminous results of the so-called “developmental-assets
survey.”
“People say, ‘I’d love to be a fly on the wall and know
what my kids are really thinking.’ Well, it’s in here.
“This survey asks beautiful questions, like, ‘How important is it to you to help other people, help reduce hunger and poverty, help make sure people are treated fairly,
get to know people of different races and ethnic groups?”
Beacom said.
“What we find is that a huge number of kids — not all of
them, but a large number, in my estimation — hold these values
very dearly.
“The perception in Palo Alto is that parents don’t let their kids
make mistakes, but 75 percent of kids agreed that taking their
lumps, taking responsibility for their mistakes, was quite important or extremely important,” she said.
“If you never ask these questions, you would never know.”
youth
Taito at the
YMCA’s
Spring Break
Day Camp.
Page 14ÊUÊ«ÀÊÓÓ]ÊÓä££ÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞ
T
he Developmental Assets Survey, produced by the Minneapolis-based Search Institute and given to millions of
young people nationwide over the past 45 years, measures
40 defined “assets” a kid needs to thrive — things like “family
support,” “integrity,” “reading for pleasure” and “adult role
Cover Story
Sampling from the 160-question high school
Developmental Assets survey
Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re invited!
Avenidas
Percentage of students
Grade 9
Grade 10 Grade 11
Grade 12
Live with both biological parents
79
77
75
78
Helping people â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;quite or extremely importantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
82
82
82
86
Being religious or spiritual â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;quite or extremely importantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
28
27
26
27
Knowing people of different race/ethnicity important
59
60
53
61
Daily spend 3 or more non-school hours on homework
37
45
58
53
Agree: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;teachers really care about meâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
50
53
53
69
Agree that teachers push me to be the best I can be
54
54
52
65
Agree: parents give me help, support when needed
81
79
76
80
Agree: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s against my values to have sex while a teen
56
42
31
28
Family eats dinner together 5 or more times a week
65
57
57
56
Father has completed college and/or grad school
84
87
86
86
Mother has completed college and/or grad school
84
85
86
86
Important to tell the truth, even when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not easy
65
66
60
68
Agree: Parents push me to be the best I can
88
85
83
84
Agree: In my neighborhood a lot of people care about me
39
33
30
36
Agree: I have lots of good conversations with my parents
63
62
59
66
models,â&#x20AC;? to name just a few. They
cover resources both external and
internal to youth.
Decades of results have established that children who possess
higher â&#x20AC;&#x153;asset levelsâ&#x20AC;? tend to thrive,
while those with lower levels engage
in more high-risk behavior.
According to Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s results,
18 percent of fifth-graders are
â&#x20AC;&#x153;vulnerable or at risk.â&#x20AC;? That number jumps to 32 percent of middle
school students and 47 percent of
high school students. A student is
considered â&#x20AC;&#x153;vulnerable and at riskâ&#x20AC;?
if his or her survey answers reflect
fewer than 20 of the 40 assets.
On the upside, students possessing 30 or more assets are counted in
the â&#x20AC;&#x153;optimal, thrivingâ&#x20AC;? zone.
In Palo Alto, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;thrivingâ&#x20AC;? category comprises 43 percent of fifthgraders, 23 percent of seventh-graders and 10 percent of high school
students.
Armed with baseline data on the
emotional health of its youth, people in any community can become
â&#x20AC;&#x153;asset buildersâ&#x20AC;? by being more
â&#x20AC;&#x153;intentionalâ&#x20AC;? and engaging in their
interactions with kids, the Search
Institute says.
The town of Los Gatos â&#x20AC;&#x201D; led by a
middle school principal and former
mayor Mike Wasserman â&#x20AC;&#x201D; tried it,
and a repeat survey found that the
â&#x20AC;&#x153;asset levelsâ&#x20AC;? of teens there measurably increased from 2007 to 2010.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s paying attention to small
things,â&#x20AC;? said Chris Miller, a board
member of the Los Gatos Union
School District, where the community made a concerted effort to put
the assets into action â&#x20AC;&#x201D; saying hello
to kids, striking up conversations,
taking some time to listen to what
they have to say.
Lisa Fraser, principal of Los Gatosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Fisher Middle School, introduced the â&#x20AC;&#x153;assetsâ&#x20AC;? approach to her
campus in 2005. In 2008, then-Mayor Wasserman (now a Santa Clara
County Supervisor) announced
a full-on campaign to spread the
assets model throughout the community. Wasserman spoke before
68 different organizations in town
about the assets and the importance
of interacting with young people.
The cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Youth Commission
also teamed up with its Chamber
Lifetimes of
Achievement
2011
Sunday, May ď&#x2122;&#x201E;ď&#x2122;&#x2C6;, ď&#x2122;&#x2026;ď&#x2122;&#x192;ď&#x2122;&#x201E;ď&#x2122;&#x201E;
ď&#x2122;&#x2020;:ď&#x2122;&#x192;ď&#x2122;&#x192; - ď&#x2122;&#x2C6;:ď&#x2122;&#x192;ď&#x2122;&#x192; pm
Join us for a garden party honoring the
signiďŹ cant professional and community
contributions of seven seniors.
Jim Burch
Betsy Collard
Jan Fenwick
Dick Henning
Bill and Carolyn Reller
Veronica Tincher
Call (650) 289-5445 or visit
www.avenidas.org for tickets.
!
Students in the Palo Alto Family YMCAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Spring Break Day Camp used
paintbrushes to illustrate Asset No. 4 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; â&#x20AC;&#x153;caring neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and
other â&#x20AC;&#x153;assetsâ&#x20AC;? that relate to adult support for youth in a community.
of Commerce to identify and highlight businesses considered â&#x20AC;&#x153;youth
friendlyâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; those that treat young
customers with respect, hire youth
and support community and school
activities.
Surveys of some 2,000 Los Gatos students in 2007 and again in
2010 showed increased assets in
almost every category, including an
18 percentage point gain in â&#x20AC;&#x153;school
engagementâ&#x20AC;? and a 13 percentage
point boost in â&#x20AC;&#x153;positive peer influence.â&#x20AC;?
A
sset-building is more than just
nostalgia for a rosy past that
never existed, Beacom said.
It is particular to every time and
place.
From her own childhood, Beacom
remembers the reliably warm greeting she used to get from Fran Hinson, the late owner of the old Franâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
newsstand on Lytton Avenue.
Hinson and his sister Ruth welcomed kids into their shop to read
comics, inviting them behind the
counter to pick out penny candy.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We never bought the comics,
but they were nice to us,â&#x20AC;? she said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Who knew how important those
adults would be in our lives?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Forever in my mind will be the
smell of red licorice, tobacco and
newsprint together and the independence of being able to walk to
Franâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s.â&#x20AC;?
(continued on page 18)
*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;ÂŤĂ&#x20AC;Â&#x2C6;Â?Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x201C;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁÂŁĂ&#x160;U Page 15
A community health education series from Stanford Hospital & Clinics
Clear Sight Into Fragile Globe:
New Byers Eye Institute at Stanford Combines
High Technology with Advanced Knowledge
Jennifer Thompson was feeling
pretty good about her cataract surgery until shortly after it began, and
she heard the surgeon say, “I can’t
proceed. There is something very
wrong.”
“I think he was pretty shocked by
what he saw,” said Thompson. “He
told me I was in danger of losing my
vision and my eye.” Without quick
action, that was a strong possibility.
As frightening as that possibility
was, she was thinking of something else that frightened her even
more. Her husband had died eight
years earlier of melanoma. Its first
symptom was vision blurred by a detached retina.
Delicate architecture
Our eyes may be the most complex
organs. Protected by our eyelids,
which blink 14,000 times each day,
“I think he was pretty shocked
by what he saw. He told me I was
in danger of losing my vision
and my eye.”
– Jennifer Thompson, patient at Byers Eye
Institute at Stanford Hospital & Clinics
Venturing into retinal territory requires infinitesimal precision. “The
retina has the consistency of wet tissue paper,” said Leng. “Touch it with
an instrument and you will rip it.”
By the time he saw Thompson, scar
tissue was already forming on the
retina’s surface, blocking her vision.
The accumulating blood was seeping under the retina, like bubbles in
wallpaper, lifting the retina off its
contact with the interior of the eyeball and destroying the ability of her
left eye to process light as coherent
vision.
Thompson went into surgery with
Leng, a retinal specialist, and other
Eye Institute colleagues expert in
the cornea. Two hours later, she was
in recovery. “I had zero pain,” she
said. But she did
have to spend the
next two weeks,
asleep or awake,
face down in the
head cradle of a
massage table.
The goal: To hold
all the repairs
together long
enough for them
to be secure.
Norbert von der Groeben
What he saw was blood where blood
was not supposed to be. Thompson’s
left eye was hemorrhaging, several
layers of its delicate tissue torn
open in a pre-operative procedure.
Thompson had emergency surgery,
but it was clear she needed the most
advanced level of eye care possible.
She was referred to the Byers Eye
Institute at Stanford Hospital &
Clinics to see eye surgeon Theodore
Leng, MD, the Institute’s Director of
Ophthalmic Diagnostics.
each small globe is fronted by the
stack of cornea, pupil, iris and lens
that face forward; lining the interior
of the globe is a thin layer of tissue
called the retina, made up of several
layers of neuronal cells. They have
a biochemical response to light that
sends information through the optic
nerve to the brain.
“It wasn’t easy,”
Jennifer Thompson was about to have cataracts removed from her left eye when
she said, “but
the surgeon suddenly stopped the procedure. Her eye was hemorrhaging and
when you’re trythe accumulating damage to fragile tissues inside the eye was an immediate and
ing to save your
serious threat to Thompson’s vision.
vision, that’s
what you do.” Her
advances in eye care, Blumenkson set up a three-way mirror so
ranz said, including the invention
she could watch television and her
of many of the features of modern
grandchildren could crawl under the
ophthalmic laser delivery systems
table to look up at her and talk. “It
for the retina. The initial system,
was pretty hilarious,” she said.
developed in the 1960s, became the
standard of care for eyes for decades,
he said. In the last decade, new
Stanford’s Byers Eye Institute,
generations of scanning lasers have
where Thompson went for her care,
made treatments even more precise,
opened this fall, bringing together a
quicker and less painful.
group of physicians and the latest in
equipment for diagnosis and treatStanford patients were among the
ment. This new building is a natural
first on the West Coast to benefit
progression of the groundbreaking
from another recent development,
work done in ophthalmology for dethe use of monoclonal antibodies to
cades at Stanford, said Byers’ Direcstop leaking blood vessels that cause
tor Mark Blumenkranz, MD.
several types of blindness, especially
in people with age-related macular
degeneration, Blumenkranz said.
Stanford physicians have been inThe macula is the central portion
strumental in many of the major
History of eye care innovation
Norbert von der Groeben
After a two-hour surgery at the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford, performed by Theodore Leng, MD, Thomson’s vision is almost completely back to normal. Leng is keeping careful watch on her eye health, however. Thompson may yet need
another surgery.
Page 16ÊUÊ«ÀÊÓÓ]ÊÓä££ÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞ
special feature
The architecture of sight
Protecting Your Eyes
· Our mothers weren’t joking about carrots being
good for our eyes. So are leafy green vegetables.
A balanced diet, said Theodore Leng, MD, of
Stanford’s Byers Eye Institute, is an important part
of healthy eyes.
· Wear a hat or sunglasses or both, Leng advises.
Ultraviolet light can cause cancers on the surface
of the eye, in addition to skin cancer on the eyelid.
· Ultraviolet light is also a likely impetus for cataract
development and may also be a factor in macular
degeneration. That condition, very often related
to increasing age, is caused by cellular debris that
accumulates between the retina and the choroid,
another layer of tissue in the eye.
· Knowing the symptoms of retinal detachment
can also prevent complete loss of vision. Those
symptoms, which are painless, include the sudden
appearance of floaters, debris that looks like bits
of string or hair or spots. Sudden flashes of light in
one or both eyes and a shadow over one area of
vision can also mean trouble.
· Talk to your doctor if there is a family history of
eye problems. Some diseases have a genetic
component.
The Byers Eye Institute at Stanford is home to
six specialized care centers. It offers the latest
technologies for diagnosis and treatment.
Its professional staff includes 25 eye care
specialists in all services, including cataract
evaluation and surgery, oculoplastic surgery,
cornea and external eye disease, glaucoma, and
neuro-ophthalmology. It opened in fall 2010 in
a $26.3 million building at 2452 Watson Court,
Palo Alto.
Cornea: transparent protective tissue
Iris: muscular ring that controls amount of light
entering the pupil
Pupil: allows light through to retina
Lens: changes shape to allow focus at various
distances
Retina: thin layer of tissue whose
photoreceptor cells transmit signals to optic
nerve and visual
Optic
process centers
Nerve
Pupil
in the brain
Macula: central
Macula
portion of the
Lens
retina that
Iris processes
central field
of vision and
Retina
enables vision
acuity
Cornea
For more information about the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford, visit stanfordhospital.org/eyeinstitute or call 650.723.6995.
Join us at stanfordhospital.org/socialmedia.
of the retina; it can become clouded
with material that obscures vision.
“The retina has the consistency of
wet tissue paper. Touch it with an
instrument and you will rip it.”
– Theodore Leng, MD, Director of Ophthalmic
Diagnostics, Byers Eye Institute at Stanford
Hospital & Clinics
More than 1,000 surgeries
were performed at the Eye
Institute last year; 40,000
patient visits covered
treatment of cataracts,
diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, lid and orbital problems, corneal disease and
vitrioretinal diseases such
as age-related macular
degeneration and diabetic
retinopathy.
Complexity overcome
With Thompson, the first challenge
was diagnosis. At Stanford, physicians use specialized cameras and
scanning equipment that produce a
microscopic-level image of the eye’s
structures without having to remove
any tissue from the eye. A low-intensity laser light beam allows information
about the retina, even the optic nerve,
to be gathered in ways previously not
thought possible, said Blumenkranz.
That data is then processed with software that constructs the image.
While repairing Thompson’s injury
required great surgical skill, “she
was very lucky,” Leng said. “It was
a glancing injury which, fortunately
and miraculously, did not cut the
retina.”
“I feel nothing short of lucky,
thanks to the skills, empathy,
concern and knowledge of
Dr. Leng and his team.”
– Jennifer Thompson, patient at Byers Eye
Institute at Stanford Hospital & Clinics
The surgery was conducted with
a raft of special devices designed
to cope with the challenge of an
organ that is 90 percent water
Norbert von der Groeben
Current research at Stanford includes continuing development of microsurgical devices and lasers that
operate in femtoseconds—that’s a
millionth of a billionth second. Stanford physician-scientists are also investigating how semiconductor chips
might be used to help patients whose
retina is intact, but who,
because of genetic disorders, have lost the rods
and cones in the retina
necessary to translate
light into images.
The Institute has also been nationally recognized as a center for clinical studies in refractive surgery, including LASIK and PRK.
Jennifer Thompson is an active grandmother who knits for her two granddaughters. She loves to bake, especially scones, a
traditional tea time treat in her native New Zealand. If she had lost the vision in her left eye, she would now have a far different life,
one marred by difficulties in reading, driving and other daily activities.
and only about one inch long. “As
a young medical student,” Leng
said, “you have no idea of how
complicated the eye is.” The complexity of the eye, he said, means
there are more things that can go
wrong.
When he embarked upon his education in eye care, “they give you a
set of books that stretches out three
feet—and that’s the basic knowledge,” he said. “Then we specialize
even more.”
“I feel nothing short of lucky,”
Thompson said, “thanks to the
skills, empathy, concern and knowledge of Dr. Leng and his team.”
They even returned her calls on
Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day,
she said. “They made sure they
were available. I was totally impressed.”
She may need to have more surgery.
There is still some scar tissue that
Leng may have to remove, but her
vision in her left eye is currently
20/30, just 10 vision feet below
normal. Because of the damage,
however, even repaired, Thompson
knows that left eye has some weakness. That hasn’t stopped her from
being an active grandmother to her
two granddaughters or from taking
a long visit to back home to New
Zealand. “I flew with no problem at
all!” she said.
Stanford Hospital & Clinics is known worldwide for advanced treatment of complex disorders in areas such as cardiovascular care, cancer
treatment, neurosciences, surgery, and organ transplants. Consistently ranked among the top institutions in the U.S. News & World Report
annual list of “America’s Best Hospitals,” Stanford Hospital & Clinics is internationally recognized for translating medical breakthroughs into the
care of patients. It is part of the Stanford University Medical Center, along with the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard
Children’s Hospital at Stanford. For more information, visit stanfordmedicine.org.
*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊ«ÀÊÓÓ]ÊÓä££ÊU Page 17
Cover Story
Happier youth
(continued from page 15)
Another feature of those pre-Proposition 13 days,
Beacom recalls, were the drop-in summer recreation programs and arts and crafts at neighborhood
schools, open to all.
Raising her own kids in Palo Alto, Beacom looks
back on the annual Addison School Carnival at the
end of the May Fete Parade as a significant assetbuilder.
“It was a requirement for every Addison parent to
be involved, and it became this institution, this ritual,
an identity,” she said.
“Maybe we didn’t recognize how important those
kinds of things were. The Search Institute gives us
scientific backing for why those things really matter
for children’s health and development.
“Too often we feel like everything has to be academic or taught, instead of embedded in our way of life.”
Beacom stays alert for ideas from kids about what
might work for them today.
Students recently told her of their admiration for a
Gunn High School teacher who stands at the classroom door on the first day of school every year, shaking hands and personally greeting each student. That
got Beacom’s attention.
With assets in mind, school Superintendent Kevin
Skelly, a basketball player, has taken to opening certain school gyms on Sundays to play informally and
mingle with any kids who sign up.
Local shops like Pizza My Heart, Spot Pizza,
Douce France and Rojoz are popular because “these
are places that have welcomed young people, and
teens appreciate that,” she said.
A few simple changes could go a long way, Beacom said.
She cited recent measurable improvements in a
longstanding bullying problem at Jordan Middle
School after administrators there changed lunchtime and hallway policies. “Overnight, the (bully(continued on page 21)
Melissa Bryden, youth aquatics associate director at the Palo Alto family YMCA, helps a teary-eyed camper resolve a difficult
situation.
The 41 Developmental Assets
1. Family support
22. School engagement
2. Positive family
communication
23. Homework
25. Reading for pleasure
4. Caring neighborhood
26. Caring
5. Caring school climate
27. Equality and social
justice
6. Parent involvement
in schooling
28. Integrity
7. Community values
youth
29. Honesty
8. Youth as resources
31. Restraint
9. Service to others
32. Planning and
decision making
10. Safety
11. Family boundaries
12. School boundaries
13. Neighborhood
boundaries
14. Adult role models
15. Positive peer
influence
16. High expectations
17. Creative activities
18. Youth programs
19. Religious community
20. Time at home
21. Achievement
motivation
Spring break day campers Kieran, in orange, and Hayden, in blue, grab director Larry More’s attention while fellow campers Wan,
Taito and Isabella wait for a group exercise to begin.
Page 18ÊUÊ«ÀÊÓÓ]ÊÓä££ÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞ
24. Bonding to school
3. Other adult
relationships
30. Responsibility
33. Interpersonal
competence
34. Cultural
competence
35. Resistance skills
36. Peaceful conflict
resolution
37. Personal power
38. Self-esteem
39. Sense of purpose
40. Positive view of the
future
41. *Positive cultural
identity
*The 41st asset was added by the nonprofit Project
Cornerstone, which promotes the developmental assets
through schools in Santa Clara County. The survey, given
nationally, does not reflect the 41st asset.
Cover Story
NOTICE OF A PUBLIC MEETING
of the city of Palo Alto
Architectural Review Board (ARB)
8:30 A.M., Thursday, May 5, 2011 Palo Alto Council
Chambers, 1st Floor, Civic Center, 250 Hamilton Avenue.
Go to the Development Center at 285 Hamilton Avenue to
review filed documents; contact Diana Tamale for information
regarding business hours at 650.329.2144.
4301-4329 El Camino Real [11PLN-00068]: Request by
Aaron Barger on behalf of Palo Alto Bowl, LLC, for minor
Board level Architectural Review of minor changes to the
previously approved hotel. Zone district: R-1, RM-15 and
CS. Environmental Review: Exempt from the provisions of
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), reduction in
size of previously approved project.
100 El Camino Real (El Camino Park): Request by Palo Alto
Parks Division for Study Session Review for improvements to
the fields at El Camino Park. Zone district: PF.
Amy French
Manager of Current Planning
Kids in a Palo Alto Family YMCA program talk with youth sports leader Joe Morgan about their recent trip to
Great America.
5th graders
7th graders
High School
Palo Alto Uniﬁed School District
Adequate
45%
Adequate
40%
Thriving
43%
Vulnerable 17%
Highly vulnerable 1%
Vulnerable
28%
Thriving
23%
Highly vulnerable 4%
Vulnerable
41%
Adequate
43%
Highly vulnerable 6%
Thriving 10%
More than 4,000 Palo Alto students took a comprehensive survey last October about their habits and
attitudes. Pie charts, above, illustrate assets levels of, from left, fifth-graders, seventh-graders and high school
students. As students enter their teen years, more are considered “vulnerable” and fewer are “thriving.”
Source: Palo Alto Unified School District
‘Speed-friending’ and a sympathetic ear
Student-led group boosts connections on the Gunn campus
A
student group responding to a
“suicide cluster” in the Gunn
High School community has
emerged as a national model of how
to promote a sense of caring on a
diverse, high-achieving campus.
The student organization ROCK
(“Reach Out, Care, Know”) recently
earned the Positive Peer Influence
Award at a Santa Clara County-wide
celebration of “asset champions”
sponsored by the nonprofit Project
Cornerstone.
Gunn student “rocks” also have
been asked to share their strategies
with the national peer-counseling
group Sources of Strength.
Gunn senior Mia Howard, a cochair of the ROCK along with Sophia Jiang and Paula Jung, said she
joined the organization last year
after being inspired by a schoolwide assembly following several
suicides.
“It created this overflow of emotions, and tons of students signed up
to be rocks,” Howard said.
“Basically, throughout the year
we would have trainings to be peer
counselors.”
ROCK representatives make
themselves available to talk with any
fellow student in need of a sounding
board or a sympathetic ear.
The peer counselors can easily
be identified because their names
are posted in every classroom at
Gunn.
ROCK also sponsors activities to
boost student connections on campus, including “speed-friending”
and an exercise called “six degrees
of separation,” designed to let students know how closely they are
connected to people they view as
strangers.
Speed-friending is similar to
speed dating, Howard said.
“We tell people about ourselves —
people we’d usually never talk to.
“During high school people tend
to stick to a certain crowd, but
speed-friending allows you to open
up to eight or 10 people you don’t
usually talk to. And it doesn’t have
to be awkward because everyone’s
doing the same thing.”
ROCK was launched in the fall of
2009 after students Joyce Liu and
her study buddy Esther Han realized
they’d been one another’s emotional
rock following the suicides.
Around the same time, Liu
launched the website “Henry M.
Gunn Gives Me Hope” (http://hmggmh.wordpress.com) on which members of the Gunn community post
stories about good things, large and
small, that transpire at the school.
Liu got her idea from another
website, www.givesmehope.com,
which she said she was reading at
the time.
“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if
we had something like that just for
Gunn. There are a lot of really small
things here that make people feel really nice, but we don’t necessarily
record it or remember to thank the
person.
“It’s the really simple things
people do, but they just make you
smile,” Liu said at the time. N
— Chris Kenrick
NOTICE TO SENIOR CITIZENS ABOUT PARCEL TAX EXEMPTION
DEADLINE: MAY 31, 2011
On June 5, 2001, the voters approved Measure D, a special parcel tax
assessment of $293 per parcel for ﬁve years. On June 7, 2005, voters
approved an increase to $493 per parcel and extended the tax through
the 2010-11 tax year. On May 4, 2010, voters approved an increase to
$589 for six years beginning as of July 1, 2010, with annual two percent escalation adjustments. The funds are used to attract and retain
qualiﬁed and experienced teachers and school employees, maintain
educational programs that enhance student achievement, and reduce
the size targeted classes. A parcel is deﬁned as any unit of land in the
District that receives a separate tax bill from the Santa Clara County
Tax Assessor’s Ofﬁce.
An exemption is available for any senior citizen who owns and occupies as a principal residence a parcel, and applies to the District for
an exemption. For the 2011-12 tax year, a senior citizen is deﬁned as
a person 65 years of age and older by June 30, 2012. Please apply for
the exemption by May 31, 2011.
If you were exempt from paying the PAUSD parcel tax for the 2010-11
tax year, you should have received an exemption renewal letter in early
April. To renew your exemption for the 2011-12 tax year, please sign
and return the letter.
If you have any questions about the parcel tax, the Senior Citizen
Exemption, or you did not receive your renewal letter, please call the
PAUSD Business Ofﬁce at 650-329-3980.
HOW TO APPLY FOR A SENIOR EXEMPTION
• Complete an application at 25 Churchill Avenue,
Palo Alto, Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
or call the PAUSD Business Office at 650-329-3980
to have an application mailed you.
If you decide to complete the application in person,
you will need to bring:
• Your Assessor’s Parcel Number (from your
property tax bill)
• A copy of proof of birth date (only one of the
following: driver’s license, birth certificate,
passport, or Medicare card)
• A copy of proof of residence (only one of the
following: driver’s license, utility bill, Social
Security check, or property tax bill)
*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊ«ÀÊÓÓ]ÊÓä££ÊU Page 19
Cover Story
G U I D E TO 2011 S U M M E R C A M P S F O R K I D S
n
n
o
e
C
c
p
t
ion
m
a
C
Start with ‘assets’,
not ‘deficits,’ youth
directors say
For more info see our online camp directory at
PaloAltoOnline.com/biz/summercamps
Athletics
Athletic Fitness – “Train with the Best”
Menlo Park
Riekes Summer Camps — A world of opportunity and fun-filled learning. Ages 9-18. Strength & conditioning, speed & agility,
sport specific training, skills development, professional coaches, pre & post evals, leading edge methods, latest equipment.
Sessions run from June through August.
www.riekes.org
650-364-2509
Bay Area Equestrian Center
Woodside
At Wunderlich County Park Stables. Kids 8-15 have outdoor fun joining BAEC for horse camps. Camps focus on caring for and
riding horses so come ready to ride and have fun learning good horse care.
www.bayareaequestrian.net
650-446-1414
Camp Jones Gulch
La Honda
Join the fun this summer! Camp Jones Gulch offers friendship and growth to kids ages 6-16. Enjoy our Traditional Camp or Mini,
Horse, Surfing, Leadership and Travel Camps. One- and two-week sessions. Limited financial assistance available.
www.campjonesgulch.org
415-848-1200
Champion Tennis Camps
Atherton
CTC programs provide an enjoyable way for your child to begin learning the game of tennis or to continue developing existing skills. Our approach is to create lots of fun with positive feedback and reinforcement in a nurturing tennis environment.
Building self-esteem and confidence through enjoyment on the tennis court is a wonderful gift a child can keep forever! Super
Juniors Program, ages 4 - 6. Juniors Program, ages 7 - 14.
www.alanmargot-tennis.net
650-400-0464
Don Shaw’s Volleyball Training Academy
Sunnyvale
Join former Stanford University Men’s and Women’s head coach, Hall of Famer and 4-time NCAA Champion Don Shaw this
summer at our camp for HS GIRL’s July 13th, 14th & 15th and for HS BOY’s July 18th, 19th & 20th. This camp gives players, who
have the desire, the chance to improve their skills and learn proven techniques that will help them become more consistent
and enhance their chances to play at a higher level.
www.mvvclub.com
408-329-0488
Earl Hansen Football Camp
Palo Alto
Learn the fundamentals of football with Earl Hansen, Palo Alto High School and State Champion coach. This is a non-contact
camp where kids develop fundamental skills with proven drills and techniques. Full practices in the mornings with 7 on 7
games in the afternoon. July 11 to 15 @ Palo Alto High School. Ages 10 to14. Lunch provided daily.
www.earlhansenfootballcamp.com
650-269-7793
Jefunira Camp
Palo Alto
Celebrating our 20th year of Jefunira Camp summer fun in 2011! Come join us for some good old fashion summer fun! Our
combination of an exceptional college aged staff and innovative, inclusive programming will create a memorable summer
experience for your child. Programming for children ages 4-13. Pre and post camp care offered.
www.jefuniracamp.com
650-291-2888
Kim Grant Tennis Academy Summer Camps
Palo Alto/Menlo Park/ Redwood City
Fun and Specialized junior camps for Mini (3-5), Beginner, Intermediate 1 & 2, Advanced and Elite Players. Weekly programs
designed by Kim Grant to improve players technique, fitness, agility, mental toughness and all around tennis game. Camps in
Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Redwood City. Come make new friends and have tons of FUN!!
www.KimGrantTennis.com
650-752-8061
Matt Lottich Life Skills Basketball Camp
Woodside/ Redwood City
MLLS offers high-level, high-energy basketball instruction for ages 6-16. This summer we celebrate the 8th year!! With two to
three “leagues” in each session, young beginners to advanced elite players get to learn fundamental skills, advanced footwork
and valuable life lessons from an unparalleled staff of Pro and Collegiate level players. Camps at Woodside Elementary and
Sequoia High School. Early bird, multi-session, and group discounts available.
www.mllscamp.com
1-888-537-3223
Nike Tennis Camps at Stanford University
Stanford
Come join the fun this summer and get better! Dick Gould’s 42nd Annual Stanford Tennis School offers day camps for both junior
and adults, June 11-16. Weekly junior overnight and extended day camps offered June 19-Aug 12 for boys & girls ages 9-18 and
run by Head Men’s Coach John Whitlinger and Head Women’s Coach Lele Forood. There is a camp option for everyone!
www.USSportsCamps.com/tennis
1-800-NIKE CAMP (645-3226)
Spring Down Camp Equestrian Center
Portola Valley
Spring Down camp teaches basic to advanced horsemanship skills. All ages welcome! Daily informative lecture, riding lesson,
supervised hands-on skill practice, safety around horses, tacking/untacking of own camp horse, and arts/crafts.
www.springdown.com
650-851-1114
Stanford Water Polo Camps
Stanford
Ages 7 and up. New to the sport or have experience, we have a camp for you. Half day or full day option for boys and girls. All
the camps offer fundamental skill work, position work, scrimmages and games.
https://stanfordwaterpolocamps.com
650-725-9016
Summer at Saint Francis
YMCA, others, build assets into programs
S
everal Palo Alto youth programs — including the city’s
Recreation Department, the
Palo Alto Family YMCA and the
nonprofit Youth Community Service (YCS) — for years have organized their programs around the
“developmental-assets” model.
“I really appreciate the ‘asset’ approach rather than the ‘deficit’ approach,” said YCS Executive Director Leif Erickson.
“Instead of focusing on what’s
missing and all the negative ways
of looking at kids and saying, ‘We’re
going to fix that,’ this builds on
strengths kids already have.
“A lot of (asset building) is doing things the people like parents,
neighbors and church groups are
already doing, just being more intentional about it.”
Those groups let teens know they
are valued as individuals and give
them a role in community life, he
said.
Erickson runs “service-learning”
programs for students in Palo Alto,
East Palo Alto, Redwood City and
Los Altos, teaching leadership skills
as well as providing opportunities to
volunteer.
The Palo Alto Family YMCA
adopted the assets approach in the
mid-1990s, recognizing the assets
as consistent with the Y’s “core values of honesty, caring, respect and
responsibility,” said Danny Koba,
senior youth and community director at the Ross Road Y.
“As youth workers, we’re always
looking for how to create a safe environment for kids, but when you
add the framework of the assets, you
realize you’re really helping children become contributing members
of the community — and that puts a
longer goal on it,” Koba said.
The assets are the model for the
Y’s Youth in Government program,
in which local students each year
figure out what needs fixing and
draft their own legislation.
Students absorb assets such as
“equality and social justice” through
the exercise. They receive the support of adults when they present
their legislative proposals to local
elected officials.
Every Y staff member annually is trained and retrained in
the assets, so that asset building
becomes a part of every program,
Koba said.
When staff members hand a child
off to his or her parent at the end
of a daily program, for example,
the staffer is instructed to spark a
conversation about something the
child did that day so that the talk
can be continued between parent
and child.
The Developmental Assets Survey
itself has been available to school
districts in Santa Clara County for
a decade through an organization
called Project Cornerstone — but
last October was the first time Palo
Alto has participated. N
— Chris Kenrick
J ACE J Summer Music Camps
•
•
•
•
•
•
My First Rock Camp
Girls Rock Camp
Advanced Rock Camp
Rock Camp
Recording/Jam Camp
Rock Camp
June 27-July 1 RWC
July 5-9 RWC
July 11-15 RWC
July 18-22 RWC
July 25-29 RWC
August 1-5 PA
John Jordan, director 650-722-1581
www.jacejmusic.com
jacejmusic@gmail.com
•Play in a band
•Live performance
•Improvisation
•Recording
•Ear training
•Vocal instruction
•Rhythm Training
Mountain View
Sports & Activity Camp (ages 6-12): This all sports camp provides group instruction in a variety of field, water and court games.
Saint Francis faculty and students staff the camp, and the focus is always on fun. The program is dedicated to teaching teamwork, sportsmanship and positive self-esteem.
www.sfhs.com/summer
650-968-1213 ext. 446
Summer at Saint Francis
Mountain View
Advanced Sports Camps (5th-9th grades): We offer a wide selection of advanced sports camps designed to provide players
with the opportunity to improve both their skill and knowledge of a specific sport. Each camp is run by a Head Varsity Coach
at Saint Francis, and is staffed by members of the coaching staff.
www.sfhs.com/summer
650-968-1213 ext. 446
Team Esface Elite Basketball Skills Clinics
Woodside/ Redwood City
Spring Training (April-May). High-energy, high-level basketball training for ages 6-16. Use your offseason as a time to develop
your basketball skills and IQ with the unparalleled coaching staff of Team Esface. Learn the fundamentals of the game, offensive
attack moves and advanced footwork through dynamic drills and competitions led by young, positive coaches including
former Division 1 athletes. April and May. Two days per week. Sibling and group discounts available. More information and
sign up at: www.teamesface.com
1-888-537-3223
YMCA of Silicon Valley
Peninsula
Say hello to summer fun at the YMCA! Choose from enriching day or overnight camps in 35 locations: arts, sports, science,
travel, and more. For youth K-10th grade. Includes weekly fieldtrips, swimming and outdoor adventures. Accredited by the
American Camp Association. Financial assistance available.
www.ymcasv.org/summercamp
408-351-6400
(continued on next page)
Please call us at 650.326.8210 for other camp advertising opportunities
Page 20ÊUÊ«ÀÊÓÓ]ÊÓä££ÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞ
CAROL MACPHERSON AQUATIC CENTER
Water Babies to Adults Swim Lessons
Carol has 50 years of experience
World & National Champion
Hall of Fame Swimmer
Carol’s precise technical teaching methods allow
students to progress rapidly, developing
trust and conﬁdence.
All instructors trained by Carol.
June 17-August 17
In Palo Alto: Jordan Pool, Elks Pool
ÜÜÜ°V>V°ÕÃÊUÊ
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Cover Story
G U I D E TO 2011 S U M M E R C A M P S F O R K I D S
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For more info see our online camp directory at
PaloAltoOnline.com/biz/summercamps
Academics
Delphi Academy
Santa Clara
Have your best summer ever at Delphi Academy’s summer camp! Ages 5-13. Full Day Camp. Morning academics with experienced teachers, afternoon activities, day trips, camping trips, swimming, sports, crafts, activities, and a lot of fun!
www.bestsummerever.org
408-260-2300
Harker Summer Programs
San Jose
K-12 offerings taught by exceptional, experienced faculty and staff. K-6 morning academics - focusing on math, language arts
and science - and full spectrum of afternoon recreation. Grades 6-12 for-credit courses and non-credit enrichment opportunities. Swim, Tennis and Soccer also offered.
www.summer.harker.org
408-553-0537
iD Tech Camps - Summer Tech Fun!
Gunn High School students Wendy Qiu, center, and Tina Hidai, right,
spend time with Lytton Gardens resident Hyo Soon Lim during a recent
service day sponsored by Youth Community Service.
Happier youth
(continued from page 18)
ing) data improved, and continues
to improve,” she said.
Polling subsequent to the changes
suggested that parents had noticed
the difference.
“We (adults) don’t generally have
a good track record in following
through, and some of this is really
low-hanging fruit,” Beacom said,
citing longtime requests from high
school students for “test calendars”
so they don’t end up with multiple
exams on the same day from different teachers.
“They’re not asking for reduced
tests or reduced rigor — just a better
system, a healthier system.”
At Sequoia High School in Redwood City, where Beacom’s husband has taught chemistry and human biology for 22 years, the union
contract mandates that teachers participate at some level in the extracurricular life of the school — chaperoning, keeping time at games, or
other chores.
That alone leads to teachers having greater connection with stu-
Stanford
Ages 7-17 create video games, iPhone apps, C++/Java programs, websites and more. Weeklong, day and overnight programs
held at Stanford, UC Berkeley, Santa Clara, UCLA and others. Also special Teen programs held at Stanford in gaming, programming and visual arts. Free year-round learning! Save with code CAU22L.
www.internalDrive.com
1-888-709-TECH (8324)
iD Teen Academies
Stanford
dents, she said.
“My husband would do it anyway,
and a lot of teachers (in Palo Alto)
do things on their own, but that
(contract requirement) is a structure
that makes something happen.
“The whole school climate thing
doesn’t have to mean a complete
overhaul. The kids have given us
some suggestions — let’s just start
with those.” N
Teens spend two weeks immersed in the dynamic world of video game creation at iD Gaming Academy, computer science/
application development at iD Programming Academy or photography/filmmaking at iD Visual Arts Academy. Overnight programs held at Stanford, Harvard, MIT and others. Week-long programs for ages 7-17 also available. Free year-round learning!
Save w/code CAU22T.
www.iDTeenAcademies.com
1-888-709-TECH (8324)
Palo Alto’s survey results have
been posted on the school district’s website at http://pausd.org/
parents /programs / StudentConnectedness/index.shtml. They are
also linked to the website of Project
Safety Net (www.psnpaloalto.com/),
the multi-agency task force on teen
mental health that was organized in
response to the suicides.
Summer at Saint Francis
Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can
be emailed at ckenrick
@paweekly.com.
About the cover: Clockwise from top
right: Isabella, Chloe, Ellie, Kieran, Hayden,
Samantha and Christo participated in the
YMCA’s Spring Break Day Camp.
ISTP Language Immersion
Palo Alto
International School of the Peninsula camps offered in French, Chinese, Spanish or ESL for students in Nursery through Middle School.
Three 2-week sessions, each with different theme. Students are grouped according to both grade level and language proficiency.
www.istp.org
650-251-8519
Mid-Peninsula High School Summer Program
Menlo Park
Mid-Peninsula High School offers a series of classes and electives designed to keep students engaged in learning. Classes MondayThursday and limited to 15 students. Every Thursday there’s a BBQ lunch. The Science and Art classes will have weekly field trips.
www.mid-pen.com
650-321-1991 ext. 110
Mountain View
Summer at Saint Francis provides a broad range of academic and athletic programs for elementary through high school students. It is the goal of every program to make summer vacation enriching and enjoyable!
www.sfhs.com/summer
650-968-1213 ext. 446
SuperCamp
Stanford/San Jose/Berkeley
SuperCamp is the summer enrichment program that parents and kids love! Now in our 30th year and with over 56,000 graduates worldwide, we’ll give your son or daughter the skills, added confidence, motivation and character direction to flourish.
Junior Forum, incoming 6th-8th graders; Senior Forum, incoming 9th-12th graders. Located at Stanford, San Jose State, UC
Berkeley and 6 other prestigious schools nationwide.
www.supercamp.com
800-285-3276
Synapse School & Wizbots
Menlo Park
Cutting-edge, imaginative, accelerated, integrated, and hands-on academic summer enrichment courses with independent
in-depth and project-based morning and afternoon weeklong programs for children ages 4-12: Young Explorers, Thinking
Math, Leonardo da Vinci’s Inventions, Nature Connections, Girls’ & Soccer Robotics, and more!
www.summerinnovation.com
650-866-5824
TechKnowHow Computer & LEGO Camps
Palo Alto/Menlo Park/Sunnyvale
Fun and enriching technology classes for students, ages 5-14! Courses include LEGO and K’NEX Projects with Motors, NXT
Robotics, 3D Modeling, and Game Design. Many locations, including Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Sunnyvale. Half and all day
options. Early-bird and multi-session discounts available.
www.techknowhowkids.com
650-474-0400
Woodland School Summer Adventures
Portola Valley
For kindergarten through 8th grade. Offers academics, sports, field trips and onsite activities. June 27 - July 29
www.woodland-school.org
650-854-9065
Public Meeting Notice
Community Meeting
DATE:
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
TIME:
6:30-8:00 PM
PLACE: Council Chambers, City Hall
250 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto
This meeting will focus on a presentation of parking data in the Greater
Downtown Palo Alto region with an emphasis on the residential
neighborhoods of Professorville, SOFA, and Downtown North.
Agenda
The public meeting will be an opportunity for the general public
to provide input on parking strategies such as Residential Permit
Parking (RPP). The meeting will provide background information and
request feedback and preferences, including:
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gil.candelaria@cityofpaloalto.org
Write Now! Summer Writing Camps
Palo Alto/Pleasanton
Emerson School of Palo Alto and Hacienda School of Pleasanton open their doors and offer their innovative programs: Expository Writing, Creative Writing, Presentation Techniques, and (new!) Media Production. Call or visit our website for details.
www.headsup.org
650-424-1267, 925-485-5750
Arts, Culture, Nature and Other Camps
Bay Area School of Performing Arts- Summer Day Camps 2011
Palo Alto
Two fun and comprehensive programs offered in 1, 2 or 3 weeks for ages 4 and up touching every aspect of Music,Theater and
Dance: Improvisation, Musical Theatre, Play Production and Stage Performance. July 5-July 22 and July 25-August 12 (Full day
and Half Day) 9-3pm M-F, Performance each week! 824 San Antonio Rd., Palo Alto
www.baperformingarts.com
650-561-4146
Camp Jano India
Mountain View/Santa Clara
Celebrate Indian culture, languages, arts, festivals, literature, cuisine, and leaders. Weekly themes are brought to life through
related arts, dance, games, projects, stories and theatre in a very unique, exciting, creative, interactive, and structured style.
June 13-August 5. Age 5 to 14.
www.janoindia.com
650-493-1566
Camp F.U.N. (Friends with Unique Needs)
Palo Alto
A nurturing environment for kids with challenges to experience the fun of summer camp. Led by therapists at Children’s Health
Council. Ages 5-12, full days, Mon-Fri, three sessions. Small groups. Financial aid available.
www.chconline.org
650-688-3625
Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA)
Mountain View
50+ creative camps for Gr. K-8! Drawing, Painting, Ceramics, Sculpture, Musical Theater, American Idol Workshop, more! Twoweek sessions; full and half-day enrollment. Extended care available. Financial aid offered.
www.arts4all.org
650-917-6800 ext. 0
Creative Arts – “Express Yourself”
Menlo Park
Riekes Summer Camps — A world of opportunity and fun-filled learning. Ages 9-18. Rock camps, Hip Hop, recording, filmmaking, animation, B&W and digital Photography, graphic arts, comic book creation, Photoshop, magazine publishing. Sessions
run from June through August.
www.riekes.org
650-364-2509
Nature Awareness –“Explore Our Natural World”
Menlo Park
Riekes Summer Camps — A world of opportunity and fun-filled learning. Ages 6-18 and families. Learn awareness & survival
skills, explore Monterey Bay, deep redwoods & coastal marsh. Surf camp. Family Festival. AFCANA Combo Camps combining
fitness, arts & nature. Sessions run from June through August.
www.riekes.org
650-364-2509
*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊ«ÀÊÓÓ]ÊÓä££ÊU Page 21
Arts & Entertainment
A weekly guide to music, theater, art, movies and more, edited by Rebecca Wallace
AT STYLE 2011, ‘WEARABLE
ART’ CAN TAKE THE FORM OF
CHAIN-MAIL DRESSES AND
CLOTHING MADE FROM
RECYCLED MATERIAL
Below: A chain-mail tank top designed by
Elaine Unzicker. Right: Jill Pillot designed
this shirt from recycled clothing.
Left: Unzicker’s dramatic
“Shimmering Free” gown.
BEYOND
THE
BASICS
Above: A workout top provides the top
for this dress by Pillot.
Above: A child’s dress by Pillot, made from
recycled clothing and fabrics. Right: One of
Unzicker’s chain-mail skirts.
Page 22ÊUÊ«ÀÊÓÓ]ÊÓä££ÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞ
2011 Wallace Stegner Lectures
Series Sponsor: Jean Lane, in memory of Bill Lane
Jonathan
Waterman
&%././/*//'$
Veronica Weber
Jill Pillot poses in her shop in San Mateo with a mannequin wearing one of her designs.
A
by Karla Kane
favorite garment, once outgrown or damaged,
usually ends up on the give-away pile or in
the trash. But in the hands of Jill Pillot, castoff clothes become new works of fashionable art.
Pillot is one of many clothing and jewelry designers whose work will be featured at the Palo Alto Art
Center Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual wearable art show and
sale that benefits education programs at the center.
Style 2011 will be held Saturday, April 30, at the Lucie Stern Community Center.
Pillot, who owns Richochet Wearable Art, a clothing boutique in San Mateo, designs whimsical pieces
made from rescued material. Describing her designs
as â&#x20AC;&#x153;classic with a primitive edge,â&#x20AC;? she said she buys
from Goodwill and other thrift shops to score discarded fabric. She also makes custom pieces from
garments customers bring in, especially those that
have sentimental meaning, such as something that belonged to a beloved grandmother or a piece of clothing outgrown by a child.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;People bring in clothes they are fond of, that have
a history behind them, then we recreate it,â&#x20AC;? she said.
One customer, whose grown daughter was suffering
with depression, brought in a collection of her daughterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s baby clothes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She wanted to give her something
special that would comfort her,â&#x20AC;? Pillot said.
Pillot shredded the fabrics, than wove them back
together, creating a snuggly and unusual scarf.
Some clients have specific ideas for how they want
the piece to be done. Others leave it up to Pillotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
artistic vision. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Usually they allow me to create what
I feel is right for the garment,â&#x20AC;? she said.
Pillot, whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s originally from Belgium, said sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
been making new clothes from rescued material for
close to 20 years. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s made clothes for most of her
life but also took classes at CaĂąada College to improve her technical skills and study costume design.
She has also won awards at the de Young Museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Discarded to Divine recycled-fashion show in San
Francisco.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t use patterns and I never produce a piece
again,â&#x20AC;? she said.
At Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Style 2011, Pillot said she may focus
on presenting her line of childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clothes, which
can include swirlable, formal dresses; casual tops and
skirts made with unusual textures and fringe; and full
matching outfits with coordinating, funky hats.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s popular because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quite different and stands
out from the mainstream,â&#x20AC;? she said of her look, adding that her styles have a European and even global
flair.
Though Pillot focuses on womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
clothes, the mother of two teen sons plans to someday
expand to menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and boysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; fashion. And she hopes
more people will embrace the â&#x20AC;&#x153;rescuedâ&#x20AC;? clothing
idea, not only for the sake of her business but for the
planet as well.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I really want the community to get involved. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
about a lot more than just fashion; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about environmental awareness,â&#x20AC;? she said.
Elaine Unzicker, another Style 2011 artist, also cre-
ates clothing that could be described as European â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
medieval European, that is. Chain mail, metal mesh
made of delicate, interlocking ring patterns made famous by knights in armor, is her fabric of choice.
Unzicker said that while the material, perhaps
known more for protectiveness and strength than
style, may seem like an odd choice for a clothing and
jewelry designer, it actually works well as a flexible,
even lovely fabric.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;People look at it and think these are really heavy;
then theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re surprised,â&#x20AC;? she said of her pieces, which
include slinky scarves, vests and even entire dresses
made of chain mail.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lots of flexibility; theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re pretty comfortable because the weight gets distributed evenly. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
like the leather-jacket concept,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People put
it on and feel good. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a grounding quality a lot
of people really like.â&#x20AC;?
The Southern California-based Unzicker began her
career as a jewelry designer, then studied sculpture,
eventually taking a chain-mail workshop and falling
in love with it. She soon began experimenting, moving from small jewelry pieces to bigger projects that
utilized her sculpture background.
She buys her metal in sheets, painstakingly cuts
it ring by ring, and creates a new pattern, reattaching the rings to create her designs. Smaller projects
take weeks, while the more complex ones can take
months.
She said she allows her inspiration to guide her,
even if it leads to pieces she wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily expecting.
One project started out as a top. However, â&#x20AC;&#x153;once I
put it on I said, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;This was meant to be a dress,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? she
said. The piece eventually evolved into the daring,
full-length â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shimmering Freeâ&#x20AC;? gown.
Since chain mail has traditionally been used by
men, Unzicker said she is especially pleased to see
how women have responded to her designs, finding
them empowering. Customers have told her, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oh my
gosh, now I can go to this meeting and handle it,â&#x20AC;?
she said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pretty wonderful,â&#x20AC;? she added.
Unzicker will have several examples of her work
to show at Style 2011 and is hurriedly working to
prepare. Her ego was given a boost recently when she
had a successful show in Dallas, she said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was totally shocked. I sold more than ever, so
now Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m working like crazy. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a good problem
to have!â&#x20AC;? N
&+%*!%/!-/%*(/&(/* /(&($!%/(*)
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Peninsula Open Space Trust
222 High Street, Palo Alto, California 94301
(650) 854-7696 www.openspacetrust.org
What: Style 2011, the Palo Alto Art Center Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
annual wearable-art show and sale
Where: Lucie Stern Community Center, 1305 Middlefield
Road, Palo Alto
When: April 30, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cost: $10 for the general public, and free for foundation
members
Info: Go to paacf.org/style or call 650-329-2366. For
more information on Pillot and Unzicker, go to ricochetwearableart.net and unzickerdesign.com.
*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;ÂŤĂ&#x20AC;Â&#x2C6;Â?Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x201C;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁÂŁĂ&#x160;U Page 23
Arts & Entertainment
%&" %
Cuban pianist Chucho ValdĂŠs is scheduled to perform Feb. 19 at
Stanford Lively Arts.
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Island music energizes
Lively Arts season
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Diverse lineup features calypso and hula along with
string quartets, electronica, opera
by Rebecca Wallace
LIVELY
ARTS
20
10
T
11
20
ST. LAWRENCE STRING QUARTET
W/ ANDRES DIAZ, CELLO
SUN / MAY 1 / 8 PM DINKELSPIEL AUDITORIUM
SLSQ reprises its lauded interpretation of Osvaldo
Golijovâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Yiddishbbuk, plus Schubert and more.
World premiere!
TRIMPIN: THE GURS ZYKLUS
SAT / MAY 14 / 8 PM MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM
Combining live performance with kinetic sculpture, and
world history with personal biography, The Gurs Zyklus
(â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gurs Cycleâ&#x20AC;?) represents the fruits of a lifetime of
curiosity, investigation, inspired tinkering, and riveting
invention on the part of Trimpin, the brilliant artist of
one name and no deďŹ nable genre.
he energy of the islands is
coming to Stanford Lively
Arts next season, with calypso, Hawaiian slack-key guitar and a
day devoted to hula.
As part of its 2011-12 lineup of
music, dance and theater, Lively
Arts is focusing on an â&#x20AC;&#x153;Island Musicâ&#x20AC;? theme for its world music and
jazz programs. Performers include
the Cuban pianist Chucho ValdĂŠs
and his Afro-Cuban Messengers,
who will participate in a campus
residency with the Stanford Jazz
Orchestra and perform Africanand Caribbean-flavored jazz on
Feb. 19.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s someone who has been a
powerful voice for Cuban artists,
and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a compelling performer
and composer,â&#x20AC;? Jenny Bilfield,
Lively Artsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; artistic and executive director, said of ValdeĂŠ. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
someone weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve wanted to bring for
quite some time.â&#x20AC;?
Continuing the islands theme are:
Jamaican trombonist Josh Roseman
performing with his sextet on Nov.
12; and Trinidadian jazz trumpeter
Etienne Charles, playing calypso
and other music with his quintet on
April 4. May 6 is hula day, with symposia, workshops and performances
by slack-key guitarist Keola Beamer
and singer Raiatea Helm.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a living, breathing form,â&#x20AC;? Bil-
Help us
rescue
lives in
Japan.
Go to
www.rescue.org/altweeklies
FREE CONCERT APRIL 22, 5 PM: St. Lawrence String Quartet
performs Haydnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross, for string
quartet with readings.
TICKETS: livelyarts.stanford.edu | 650-725-ARTS
Page 24Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;ÂŤĂ&#x20AC;Â&#x2C6;Â?Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x201C;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁÂŁĂ&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;
A fundraising effort
by the Association of
Alternative Newsweeklies
and the Palo Alto Weekly
field said of hula, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and having some
major proponents of it here to focus
on that discussion in an academic
setting will be interesting.â&#x20AC;?
Overall, Lively Artsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 42nd season encompasses some 30 ticketed
and 70 free events, October through
May. In what has become a tradition, the Daniel Pearl World Music
Day Concert will serve as a prelude
to the season, paying tribute to the
slain journalist and Stanford graduate. Stanford music students and
faculty will perform with the St.
Lawrence String Quartet, the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resident ensemble, on Oct.
6.
The rest of the season does not
have an overarching theme, but is
instead typically diverse, featuring
several premieres â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and one final
bow.
The renowned Merce Cunningham Dance Company, scheduled to
disband at the end of this year (Cunningham died in 2009), will give its
last Bay Area performance on Nov.
1 as part of Lively Artsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; season, Bilfield said. The program will include
a restaged version of Cunninghamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
final work, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nearly Ninety.â&#x20AC;?
Other dance performances will
include the acrobatic Diavolo Dance
Theater performing to music by
John Adams on Jan. 28.
Several performances of new
music are on the lineup. One looks
ahead to the planned opening of
the new Bing Concert Hall in 2013.
Stanford composer Jonathan Berger is composing an opera, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Three
Christs of Ypsilanti,â&#x20AC;? for the hallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
opening season (with libretto by
Dan Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brien), and the St. Lawrence
String Quartet is scheduled to play
excerpts from it on Jan. 29, with
pianist Pedja Muzijevic and a to-beannounced guest vocalist.
The St. Lawrence quartet will
also premiere a new piece by Osvaldo Golijov on Oct. 23.
In addition, a Lively Arts-commissioned work by British composer Sally Beamish will be premiered
on Feb. 29 by percussionist Colin
Currie and the Stanford Philharmonia Orchestra. In vocal music, Paul
Hillierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Theatre of Voices will premiere a new work by David Lang
on Jan. 25, and perform his Pulitzer
Prize-winning piece â&#x20AC;&#x153;Little Match
Girl Passion.â&#x20AC;?
Another scheduled world premiere
is Ingram Marshallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Psalm Book,â&#x20AC;?
performed by the vocal group Lionheart and the ACME String Quartet
on March 4.
Still, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nothing like the classics, so two all-Bach programs are
planned: violinist Gil Shaham on
Nov. 6 and harpsichordist Richard
Egarr on Feb. 1. Austriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Quatuor
MosaĂŻques brings a program of
Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven compositions, on period instruments, to
Stanford on April 14.
Other string quartets include the
Pacifica Quartet, the Juilliard String
Quartet and the Kronos Quartet. In
addition, the Catalyst Quartet will
play Oct. 19 with the Sphinx Virtuosi, soloists from the national Sphinx
Competition for young Latino and
black string musicians.
For a change of pace, the So- Percussion quartet will take the stage
with electronica artists Matmos
on Oct. 26, playing music by John
Cage.
In theater, San Franciscoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Word
for Word Performing Arts Company
returns Feb. 17 for a second performance of semi-staged productions
of short stories by Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Stegner Fellows, as the company did this
season.
Educational events include student
matinees, Stanford student-curated
opening acts, and free performances
by Lively Arts artists at the Community School of Music and Arts in
Mountain View.
Season subscriptions are on sale
beginning in mid-July, with single
tickets on offer starting in late August. For full season details, go to
livelyarts.stanford.edu or call 650725-ARTS. N
Brahms and beyond
The annual Music@Menlo chamber-music festival also announced its
new season this week. The theme of the ninth season, which runs July
22 through Aug. 13 in Atherton, Palo Alto and Menlo Park, is â&#x20AC;&#x153;Through
Brahms.â&#x20AC;?
Concerts, symposia, master classes and other activities will delve into
the music of Johannes Brahms, as well as his influences, contemporaries
and his 19th-century musical scene.
The festivalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s artistic directors, cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu
Han, will perform along with a roster of other musicians. Newcomers
to Music@Menlo include violinists Yura Lee and Daniel Hope, pianist
Lucille Chung and clarinetist David Shifrin.
The four-week Chamber Music Institute for young musicians also runs
along with the festival.
For details and ticket information, go to musicatmenlo.org or call the
ticket office at 650-331-0202. N
Movies
MOVIE TIMES
African Cats (G)
((1/2
Century 16: 12:30, 2:50, 5:05, 7:35 & 9:50 p.m.; Fri.-Sun.
also at 10 a.m. Century 20: 12:30, 2:45, 5, 7:25 & 9:55
p.m.
Arthur (2011)
(PG-13) (1/2
Century 16: 11:25 a.m.; 2, 4:35, 7:25 & 10 p.m. Century
20: 11:15 a.m.; 1:50, 4:25, 7:05 & 9:45 p.m.
Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 Century 16: 11:10 a.m.; 1:35, 4, 7 & 9:30 p.m.
(PG-13) (Not Reviewed)
The Conspirator
Century 20: 11:25 a.m.; 2:15, 5:10, 7:55 & 10:45 p.m. Palo
(PG-13) (Not Reviewed) Alto Square: 1:30, 4:25 & 7:15 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. also at 10:05
p.m.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Century 16: 12:25 p.m. Century 20: 11:30 a.m.
Rodrick Rules (PG) ((1/2
Fast Five (PG-13)
(Not Reviewed)
Century 20: Thu. at 12:01 & 12:02 a.m.
Hanna (PG-13)
(Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 11:15 a.m.; 1:55, 3, 4:40, 7:30, 8:30 & 10:10
p.m.; Fri.-Sun. also at 10 a.m. Century 20: 11:45 a.m.;
2:25, 5:05, 7:50 & 10:30 p.m.
Hop (PG)
(Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 11:05 a.m.; 1:25, 3:55, 6:20 & 8:40 p.m.
Century 20: 11:35 a.m.; 1:55, 4:15, 7 & 9:25 p.m.
In a Better World (R)
(Not Reviewed)
Aquarius Theatre: 3, 6 & 8:45 p.m.
Insidious (PG-13)
(Not Reviewed)
Century 20: 12:10 p.m.; Fri.-Tue. & Thu. also at 5:10 & 10:15
p.m.
Jane Eyre (2011)
(PG-13) (((1/2
Palo Alto Square: Fri. at 1:35, 4:30, 7:20 & 10:10 p.m.; Sat.
at 4:30, 7:20 & 10:10 p.m.; Sun.-Tue. & Thu. at 1:35, 4:30 &
7:20 p.m.; Wed. at 1:35 p.m.
Limitless (PG-13)
(Not Reviewed)
Century 20: Noon, 2:35, 5:20, 8 & 10:35 p.m.
The Lincoln Lawyer
(R) (Not Reviewed)
Century 20: 11:20 a.m. & 2:10 p.m.; Fri.-Wed. also at 4:50 &
7:40 p.m.
Memphis: Broadway
musical (Not Rated)
(Not Reviewed)
Century 16: Thu. at 7:30 p.m.
p.m.
The Metropolitan
Century 20: Sat. at 10 a.m.
Opera: Capriccio
a.m.
(Not Rated) (Not Reviewed)
Century 20: Thu. at 7:30
Palo Alto Square: Sat. at 10
The Metropolitan Opera: Century 20: Wed. at 6:30 p.m.
Le Comte Ory
at 6:30 p.m.
(Not Rated) (Not Reviewed)
Palo Alto Square: Wed.
Potiche (Not Rated)
(Not Reviewed)
Aquarius Theatre: 2, 5 & 8 p.m.
Rio (PG) ((
Century 16: 11 a.m.; 1:30, 2:45, 4, 5:10, 6:30, 7:40, 9:10
& 10:05 p.m.; Fri.-Sun. also at 10 a.m. Century 20: 11:50
a.m.; 12:40, 1:50, 2:20, 3:05, 4:20, 4:45, 5:35, 6:50, 7:20,
8:05, 9:20, 9:50 & 10:40 p.m.; Fri., Sat. & Tue.-Thu. also at
10:10 & 10:40 a.m.
Scream 4 (R)
(Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 11:30 a.m.; 12:45, 2:10, 3:20, 4:50, 6:30, 7:35,
9:20 & 10:15 p.m.; Fri.-Sun. also at 10:10 a.m. Century 20:
1:10, 2, 3:45, 4:35, 6:20, 7:10, 8:50 & 9:40 p.m.; Fri. & Sun.Wed. also at 11:20 a.m. & 10:25 p.m.; Thu. also at 11:20 a.m.
& 11:30 p.m.
Soul Surfer (PG)
(Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 12:40, 3:30, 6:40 & 9:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sun. also at
10:05 a.m. Century 20: 5:15, 7:50 & 10:20 p.m.; Fri. &
Sun.-Thu. also at 11:55 a.m. & 2:30 p.m.; Sat. also at 11 a.m.
Source Code (PG-13)
(Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 11:35 a.m.; 12:40, 2:05, 4:30, 5:40, 7:10 & 9:50
p.m. Century 20: 11:50 a.m.; 2:15, 4:40, 7:15 & 9:35 p.m.
Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Century 16: 11 a.m.; 1:40, 4:20, 7 & 9:40 p.m. Century
Big Happy Family
20: 11:15 a.m.; 12:20, 1:45, 2:55, 4:20, 5:30, 6:55, 8:10, 9:35
(PG-13) (Not Reviewed) & 10:40 p.m.; Thu. also at 11:45 p.m.
Water for Elephants
(PG-13) (((
Century 16: 11:20 a.m.; 1:10, 2:10, 4:10, 5:10, 7:20, 8:20
& 10:15 p.m.; Fri.-Sun. also at 10:20 a.m. Century 20:
11:25 a.m.; 12:50, 2:10, 3:40, 4:55, 6:30, 7:45, 9:15 & 10:30
p.m.
Win Win (R) (((
Century 20: 11:40 a.m.; 2:25, 4:55, 7:30 & 10:10 p.m.
Guild Theatre: 2, 5 & 8 p.m.
Your Highness (R) ((
Century 16: 11:40 a.m.; 2:15 & 4:45 p.m.; Fri.-Wed. also at
7:15 & 9:45 p.m. Century 20: 2:40 p.m.; Fri.-Tue. & Thu.
also at 7:40 p.m.
( Skip it (( Some redeeming qualities ((( A good bet (((( Outstanding
OPENINGS
Water for Elephants
---
(Century 16, Century 20) Star attractions contribute to the allure of
the circus, and three of them provide
the best moments in Francis Lawrence’s adaptation of Sara Gruen’s
bestselling novel of the same title.
The touching performances of Hal
Holbrook (“Into the Wild”), Robert
Pattinson (“Twilight” series) and a
large pachyderm called Rosie steal
the most spectacular show on earth
away from the more flamboyant
wonders, oddities and marvels on
display in the romantic drama. They
offer an emotional truth, even when
the movie’s luridness goes over the
big top.
The story starts in the here and
now. Holbrook plays Jacob Jankows-
ki, a frail but sharp-witted man who
intended to spend the day at the
circus. But he missed the show. A
kindly Circus Vargas manager (Paul
Schneider of television’s “Parks and
Recreation”) gets an earful while
trying to make arrangements to return Jacob to his despised nursing
home. With relatively little screen
time, Holbrook makes an indelible
impression — and provides a sad
commentary about adult children
who add to the indignities of old
age.
Screenwriter Richard LaGravenese’s (“The Horse Whisperer”)
well-constructed frame structure
flashes back to 1931 with Jacob
(Pattinson) as a young Cornell veterinary science student. After receiving tragic news, he hops aboard
a train in the darkness of the night
and awakens to the world of the
struggling Benzini Brothers travelling circus. The film’s first act is
flawless, as a bemused and wideeyed Jacob admires the lions and tigers and other animals that he loves,
while becoming acquainted with the
“kinkers” or performers and learning to work the audience “rubes.”
The spectacle dazzles him, but he
soon learns about the tawdry reality
behind the sequined illusion.
The Depression-era setting will
resonate with today’s audiences.
Times are tough. Cash-strapped
Americans lose their homes, scrabble for jobs and hope that someone
can spare them a dime. But August
(Christoph Waltz of “Inglourious
Basterds”), the ruthless ringmaster
and manager of the circus troupe,
quaffs champagne with his blondebombshell wife Marlena (Reese
Witherspoon) while having workmen thrown off the moving train
so he doesn’t have to pay them. The
critique of the circus class system
and capitalism in general adds tension to the forbidden love story.
With her Jean Harlow glamour
and gentleness with the animals,
Reese Witherspoon embodies the
vulnerable object of desire who can
turn up the star wattage at will —
whether performing as the main attraction in the circus ring or partying at a speakeasy. Jacob can’t take
his eyes off of her, and Pattinson
makes you believe that his character is completely infatuated with the
married woman. Yet Witherspoon
seems miscast, as though someone
with the right look has been plunked
down in the wrong time and place.
She doesn’t exude the dangerous
sexuality of the femme fatale.
Parallels are drawn between
August’s outbursts of violence towards his wife and towards Rosie,
the endearing and lemonade-loving
elephant that Jacob handles. Waltz
has become the contemporary version of the man you love to hate. His
acting becomes more cartoonish as
the movie veers into gaudy — and
sometimes laughable — melodrama.
Despite the film’s unevenness, the
director pushes enough sentimental
buttons to make much of the movie
work. Although not suited for ladies, gentlemen and children of all
ages, “Water for Elephants” presents
plenty to please the crowds.
Rated: PG-13 for moments of intense violence and sexual content.
2 hours.
— Susan Tavernetti
African Cats
--1/2
(Century 16, Century 20) Parents be warned: The characters in
the latest Disney film frequently
attack each other, sometimes eat
each other, and spend the entire
running time naked. Before you
ring up the MPAA, I suppose you
should also know that the stars of
the G-rated “African Cats” are animals.
Still, you almost wouldn’t know
it from the script of this nature
documentary, which hard-sells
the anthropomorphic qualities of
its stars: lions and cheetahs, with
a supporting cast that includes
buffalo, crocodiles, elephants,
giraffes, hippos, hyenas, jackals,
ostriches, rhino, Thompson’s gazelles, warthogs and zebras. “Buffalo,” narrator Samuel L. Jackson
informs us, “are grumpy.” And, he
says, “There’s nothing better for a
lion than close companionship.”
Well, that and a good, rare wildebeest carcass. Those lions: They’re
just like us.
Anyway, “African Cats” unfolds on the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, where the
filmmakers seemingly trailed a
pride of lions and a coalition of
cheetahs. Beyond identifying the
reserve and providing comically
dubious “where are they now?”
end titles for the characters, directors Alastair Fothergill and Keith
Scholey do not contextualize the
footage, who named the animals,
or other matter-of-fact details.
They focus instead on constructing
a story for maximum “oohs” and
“awws” — understandable given
the clear attempt to reach a family
audience.
That story focuses on lion cub
Layla getting steadily schooled in
“the circle of life” (by film’s end,
new cubs have arrived), cheetah
“single mother” Sita raising a litter
of five, and savanna “king” Fang
ruling the pride with tough but regal authority. Kids would doubt(continued on next page)
A. O. SCOTT,
“COMIC
BRILLIANCE.”
CAMERA CINEMAS
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Campbell (408) 559-6900
Redwood City (800) FANDANGO 990# San Jose (800) FANDANGO 983#
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Menlo Park (650) 266-9260
8GI@C)/Æ*'#)'((
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Movies
Answers to this weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s puzzles, which can be found on page {Â&#x2122;
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PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL
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CIVIC CENTER, 250 HAMILTON AVENUE
BROADCAST LIVE ON KZSU, FM 90.1
CABLECAST LIVE ON GOVERNMENT
ACCESS CHANNEL 26
THIS IS A SUMMARY OF COUNCIL AGENDA ITEMS.
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11(/1/8<+:+17&+1)42+
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Thursday, April 28.
'8#8'3,46*%3/:+67/8<
THE 42nd ANNUAL STANFORD TENNIS SCHOOL
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Junior Day Camp
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JUNIOR OVERNIGHT & DAY CAMPS 4<7/617-+7
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JUNIOR & ADULT WEEKEND CLINIC 9-
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Openings
(continued from previous page)
lessly learn more watching basic
cable, but the spectacle is what it
is, and the big screen adds majesty
to it, enhanced by IMAX-style helicopter shots and bigger-than-life
slo-mo of â&#x20AC;&#x153;the fastest creature on
land â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a cheetah.â&#x20AC;?
Even with the extra help the
â&#x20AC;&#x153;true-life adventureâ&#x20AC;? gets in the
story department (including from
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Lion Kingâ&#x20AC;? producer Don
Hahn, here an executive producer
and narration editor), the wee ones
at a recent screening were chatty
and restless, signaling that â&#x20AC;&#x153;African Catsâ&#x20AC;? will play best to middle
schoolers and precocious elementary students. The narration mentions predatory practice, and death
when it comes, but the visuals are
not graphic (we see the cats make
tackles, but never tear into flesh).
â&#x20AC;&#x153;African Catsâ&#x20AC;? may not be as
egregious as â&#x20AC;&#x153;March of the Penguinsâ&#x20AC;? in viewing and articulating
animal nature through a human
filter, but gradually the approach
wears, as Jackson describes how
the â&#x20AC;&#x153;determinedâ&#x20AC;? or â&#x20AC;&#x153;terrifiedâ&#x20AC;?
creatures â&#x20AC;&#x153;comfort,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;appreciate,â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to show offâ&#x20AC;? or show
â&#x20AC;&#x153;desperate hope,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;confidenceâ&#x20AC;?
or â&#x20AC;&#x153;extraordinary courageâ&#x20AC;? as
the cubs navigate their â&#x20AC;&#x153;huge adventureâ&#x20AC;? on the way to becoming
â&#x20AC;&#x153;young adults.â&#x20AC;?
By the end, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be forgiven for
worrying less about the heroes surviving in the wild and more about
how these cats will fare in a dogeat-dog job market.
Rated G. One hour, 29 minutes.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Peter Canavese
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FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC
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Easter Sunday Celebration Worship
at 9:30 am & 11:00 am
Oxford Street Brass & The Hallelujah Chorus
Easter Egg Hunt 10:30 am
An Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ
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The Conspirator 1:30, 4:25, 7:15,10:05
Jane Eyre 1:35, 4:30, 7:20, 10:10
The Conspirator 1:30, 4:25, 7:15, 10:05
Sat ONLY 4/23
Jane Eyre 1:35, 4:30, 7:20, 10:10
The Conspirator 1:30, 4:25, 7:15
Sun-Tues 4/24-4/26
Jane Eyre 1:35, 4:30, 7:20
The Conspirator 1:30, 4:25, 7:15
Weds 4/27
Jane Eyre 1:35
The Conspirator 1:30, 4:25, 7:15
Thurs 4/28
Jane Eyre 1:35, 4:30, 7:20
Fri ONLY 4/22
&RQIHUHQFH6SRQVRUV
INSPIRATIONS
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services. To inquire about or make space reservations
for Inspirations, please contact
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Eating Out
Snug but cozy
Tucked into a narrow space, Anatolian Kitchen serves
traditional Turkish cuisine with warm ambiance
by Dale F. Bentson
I
t’s an awkward space for a restaurant. Longish and narrow,
the space at 2323 Birch St. in
Palo Alto can verge on chaotic
when busy, with servers doing
quick sidesteps to allow patrons
to pass. Anyone heading for the
aft restroom can easily create a
bottleneck.
Yet that’s dampened neither the
enthusiasm nor the quality of food
at Anatolian Kitchen, the successor to the space most recently occupied by Oaxacan Kitchen. Before Oaxacan Kitchen, the place
was a lighting store; thus the inefficiency. It wasn’t built to house
restaurants.
Open since October, Anatolian
Kitchen was the dream of Dino
Tekdemir. A native of Diyarbakir,
Turkey, he worked in Bay Area
eateries for a decade before taking
the entrepreneurial plunge. “My
goal was always to own my own
restaurant,” Tekdemir said.
Brother and chef Sahan came
in 2007 to get up to speed on the
vagaries of being a California restaurateur. Today, the two manage
every aspect of their neighborhood
dining spot. The Tekdemir family
was also in the food business in
Turkey, and the menu reflects a
warm, homemade style.
“Our food is exactly like our
mother made for us in Turkey,
fresh and healthy,” Dino said. “We
have a woman come to the kitchen
in the morning and again in the afternoon to bake bread, just as our
mother did. Everything we do must
be fresh and made right here.
“In Turkey, when guests come,
we serve them the finest food, give
them the best of our house. That
is how we treat our patrons, like
guests in our house.”
On a recent visit, I found that
the black sesame seed-topped
bread was indeed fresh, as were
the wedges of pita bread that ap-
e
peared on my table seconds after I
was seated. (I was a bit surprised
that a foil-wrapped pat of butter
accompanied rather than an oilinfused dipping sauce.)
I ate all the pita before the baba
ghanoush ($6) arrived. There was
no offer of more. I managed the
mashed grilled eggplant — which
had garlic, pepper, fresh herbs
and lemon with a tiny bead of olive oil atop — with my fork. Not
the best way. The baba ghanoush
was tasty enough, although the
eggplant didn’t quite have enough
charcoal-y flavor.
I was wiser the next time and
saved the pita for the hummus
($4.50). The blend of pulped garbanzo beans with tahini (sesame
paste), lemon juice, garlic and olive oil was appetizing and the portion ample.
I loved the cacik ($5.50). The
blend of yogurt with chopped cucumber, dill, garlic and olive oil
made for a tasty start, and should
make a great appetizer in the
warm summery days just around
the corner.
Piyas ($6) was a pasty and very
filling concoction of white beans,
red onion, red and green bell peppers, parsley and olive oil. About
half was all I could manage with
more courses to come. There
wasn’t much seasoning, which I
suppose is authentic, but the dish
was on the bland side.
For main courses, I thought the
moussaka ($13.95) particularly
good with sliced eggplant, ground
lamb and beef, onion, zucchini
and potato. It was all steeped in a
light tomato sauce, its top coated
with a rich bechamel sauce. In all,
an appealing, satisfying dish that
didn’t overfill.
“Alexander’s Favorite” ($13.95)
was sliced lamb and beef layered
over bread cubes with tomato
sauce, butter and yogurt. The
bread absorbed the sauces and
added bulk to the plate. Happily,
the meat was atop and there was
plenty of it. I didn’t need the bread
cubes but was happy they were
there in case my appetite raged.
There was plenty of meat, though,
and the yogurt added a nice tang
to the saucing.
The rib-eye shish ($16.95) was
two skewers’ worth of marinated
cubed rib-eye steak chunks. The
meat was fork-tender and perfectly
cooked, and the mound of crisp
hot fries almost made this a French
bistro fusion dish.
The stuffed eggplant ($11.50)
with tomato, onion, red and green
peppers, herbs and olive oil wasn’t
quite stuffed. The vegetables were
layered over a thick slice of eggplant. It was more a plate of stewed
vegetables than what I had hoped
for, warm and comforting but lacking a distinct flavor profile. The
side of rice was not a fluffy pilaf
but more of a sticky rice dotted
with bits of peas and carrots.
Desserts were a mixed bag. The
kunefe ($5), baked shredded filo
dough filled with goat cheese and
topped with a sweet house syrup,
was especially good. I loved the
subtle tastes and textures of this
cake: crunchy, sweet and creamy
with a hint of tanginess.
I scratched my head over the
profiteroles ($4.75). The tiny
cream puffs were entombed in a
ponderous puddle of house-made
chocolate sauce. Dino Tekdemir
told me the chocolate sauce was
made from Turkish processed cocoa powder. They shouldn’t have
been on the menu at all in that
state. Profiteroles are not supposed
to be like a hot fudge sundae.
Much happier, though, was the
delicious rice pudding ($4.50), a
lush, tapioca-like sweet-cooked
pudding. I restrained myself from
ordering seconds.
The wine list drifts from Mediterranean to California wines, reds
and whites, about two dozen in all,
suitable and affordable. Cocktail
selections include martinis, margaritas, cosmos, mojitos and fizzes.
Decor-wise, Anatolian Kitchen
is homey and warm. Artistic silver
plates, 100-year-old leather shoes
and Kurdish rugs adorn, but do not
overwhelm, the walls. Overall, the
restaurant overcomes its awkward
space to become a friendly neighborhood dining experience with
down-to-earth prices, fresh fare
and cozy ambiance. N
Anatolian Kitchen
2323 Birch St., Palo Alto
650-853-9700
anatoliankitchenpaloalto.com
Lunch: Daily 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Dinner:
Mon-Thu. 5-9:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 5-10
p.m.; Sun. 5-9 p.m.
Reservations
Credit cards
Lot Parking
Cocktails and
wine
Takeout
Highchairs
Wheelchair
access
Banquet
Catering
Outdoor
seating
Noise level:
Low
Bathroom
Cleanliness:
Good
LANDSCAPE - DESIGN - BUILD
Ken Coverdell
(650) 726-5990
Award Winning Since 1985
www.blueskydesignsinc.com
Masonry-Plantings-Woodwork-Irrigation-Water Features-Drainage-Pools/Spas-Lighting
Buy 1 entree
and get the 2nd one
with coupon
(Dinner Only)
,UNCH "UFFET -
&